


To Heal Our Hearts

by Angelic_Xia, Night-Mare (Aoife)



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Aria is Reborn's Daughter, Asexual Takeshi, Assassination, Author(s) Love to Chat In the Comments, Bending the Timeline, Comfort, Cuddles, Developing Relationship, Discussing Past Trauma, Fake Rent-Boy Hayato (Reborn), Flame Active Character(s), Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, M/M, Manga Nana, Mental Health Issues, Muramasa blade, Murder Teen Hayato (Reborn), POV Third Person Limited, Post-Varia Arc (Reborn), Pre-Future Arc (Reborn), Slow Burn, Tsuna is trying to be a good Sky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-09-15
Packaged: 2019-04-26 09:59:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 54,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14399736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelic_Xia/pseuds/Angelic_Xia, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Night-Mare
Summary: Even pretending to be a firefly turns his stomach, but he's out of money, and it's the only way.Or is it? Juudaime found him, and defended him, and with how broken they both are, maybe they can help each others' hearts heal. Love does that, he's been told.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [[Collection] These Are a Few of My Favourite Things](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13403109) by [Night-Mare (Aoife)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Night-Mare). 



it had taken a long time to work through his disgust at doing this - even _pretending_ to be a firefly turns his stomach - but it is a very effective way to separate certain men off from the herd. once he has them on their own, and they try something, he feels completely justified in first knocking them out with his Rain Flames, robbing them blind and then disintegrating them with his Storm Flames. (in the past, he could only pull the trick two or three times in any given area before the local Family caught on to his presence and set their enforcers on hunting the individual targeting their men; then he would move on to the next town, and the next Family. he had a few narrow escapes in the process - and the occasional bonus payment from certain Dons when they discovered how the men died; but those were rare).

“Gokudera-kun?!” he swallows and ducks his head, his cheeks absolutely scarlet. he hadn’t expected his Juudaime to ever see him like this. he’s running out of money, and he’d made the uncomfortable decision that he’d have to revert to his old habits; it’s the only way he can think of that will allow him to raise the money he needs for rent and food quickly enough, and still manage his duties to his Sky. “Gokudera-kun!”

he uses his Rain Flames to calm the burn in his cheeks, and lifts his head, intending to brazen out the interaction with his Sky. (he doesn’t really have any choice about it; he's the only silver-haired teen in Namimori; even Turf-top’s hair is more white than silver.) “Yes, Juudaime?”

his Sky’s eyes are wide when he turns around, and he’s not surprised. he had chosen his clothing this morning to accent his otherness; not that he’s very good at conforming at the best of times, but the thin, form fitting leather pants and the bandages are so far outside of Namimori norms that he is  _still_  astonished that the demon Prefect hasn’t appeared and tried to bite him to death, yet.

and between that, his androgynity, the flamboyant piercings he’d replaced and the fact he's using a touch of his Flames to allow him to move more fluidly, he  _knows_  he’s striking; that's the whole point.

“You look very, um, pretty, Hayato-kun.” Tsuna blushes furiously as he compliments him, and he feels very conflicted about that. he’s so used to anyone who shows interest in him being scum that his instinctive response is to pull his Storm Flames to his hands, ready to lash out, but this is his Sky, and it leaves him flailing mentally.

“Whoring again, Smoking Bomb?” Reborn’s voice cuts through his confusion. “I thought we’d agreed that you’d give up that ‘hobby’ when I called you to Japan.” his own flames flare, but it’s Tsuna’s response, the overwhelming quantity of Sky Flames that flood the area, that makes his own still.

the fact that Tsuna actually lashes out at Reborn, and fast enough that he manages to encase the Sun Arcobaleno in zero-point? that makes him feel like he’s actually valuable. precious. a good enough reason for his Sky to go up against an  _Arcobaleno_ and he has no idea how to respond. he doesn’t say anything as Tsuna tugs him back to his house - past Nana, who doesn’t even seem to notice his attire - and into his bedroom, where he finds himself pushed down into Tsuna’s desk chair, while his Sky pulls one of the pillows off his bed, and sits cross-legged on the floor. “What did Reborn mean, Hayato-kun?”

“You know that I ran away from home at eight, right, Juudaime?” his Sky nods, and makes a continue gesture. “Well, there was an incident, and um, it’s how I woke my Flames. and then well, ‘pretending’ to be a kagema made it easier to tempt men away from their friends so I could kill them. either because I’d taken a contract on them, or because, well, I needed to eat.” Tsuna’s breath hitches. “I couldn’t afford my rent this month, so I was going to go in to Tokyo to make some money.” he looks up from the floor, expecting to see disgust, or disapproval in his Sky’s eyes, but all there is is acceptance, and maybe a little distant anger. for _him _?__

“Oh, Hayato. Why didn’t you say something?”

“Because I -” he doesn’t have the right words. he didn’t think to ask because he didn’t expect to be helped. expected that if he asked, he’d be sent away, or have a bullet put in his head because he was useless. he’s exhausted, and tired, and he doesn’t have half his mental walls up. Tsuna must see something, because he’s abruptly covered in a blanket of Sky Flames, warm and comforting, and soothing.

“I would have found some way to help, Hayato.” he isn’t sure how he ends up sat on the bed next to Tsuna, wrapped in a blanket and leaning against his Sky. “After the Ring Battles, the Ninth gave me an  _obscene_  allowance, and told me I’d know what to do with it. You’re  _mine_ , and spending his blood money on you seems entirely reasonable.” he shivers at the possessive tone in his Sky’s voice; somehow he doesn’t think that his Juudaime means as a Guardian, and his last thought as he slips into an exhausted sleep is that maybe he doesn’t mind that at all? 

* * *

he answers his phone quickly when it rings; it's too loud. “Otouto, care to explain to me just why Bianchi’s just presented me with an ice-cube full of our shared tutor?!” given that he has a sleeping Hayato's head in his lap, and his Storm's very soft, silver hair under his fingers, he really doesn’t want to have this discussion right now. Hayato shifts, responding to Dino's panicked shouting, and he resumes petting him, radiating Sky Flames at his Storm to make sure he stays asleep; the other teen needs it.

he sighs and answers his older brother. “He insulted Hayato, Dino-nii. Called him a whore.”

“Well, your Storm does have a bit of a reputation, little brother; I’m fairly sure he’s never actually worked as a whore, but he definitely used it as a ruse to complete his contracts. I know I sent him a bonus for the three Cavallone men he killed; I’d have whipped them to death if I’d known about their perversions.” sometimes he forgets that his big brother is a mafia don, but this definitely isn’t one of those moments.

“It doesn’t make Reborn calling him a whore  _acceptable_.” there’s a bit of a growl in his voice, his anger seeping out, but luckily his Hayato doesn’t react.

“No. It doesn't; I'm disappointed in him. I’ll take Reborn back to Italy with me, and let Aria defrost him and shout at him for you; she'll be disappointed in him.” his brother’s voice has more than a little ice in it, and he’s irrationally pleased by it.

“Um, who’s Aria?”

there’s a touch of amusement in Dino’s voice when he answers. “She’s his daughter by Luce, and his nominal Sky, and she’s dangerous and active in our community in a way her mother  _wasn’t_. She’s also  _very_  intolerant of idiots with more machismo than brains, and her preferred ‘outreach’ work is amongst the whores in her territory. He’ll get no sympathy from her.”

“ _Good_.” he’s not ashamed of the vindictive pleasure in that one word, and he hopes that Reborn learns his lesson.

“Enjoy the couple of days holiday from his tuition, and perhaps finish 'courting' your Storm, little brother; he's certainly been waiting for you long enough.” 

“Hiie! What do you mean by that?!” he all but whispers his panic, desperately trying not to wake his sleeping Hayato, but Dino just laughs and hangs up without saying anything else. 

(Hayato’s warm and there and his and _safe_ , and a short nap can’t do any harm, can it?)

 


	2. Chapter 2

he wakes up slowly; he’s warm, and there’s something covering him, and a hand in his hair, and slow breathing, and his cheeks heat and he squeaks as he remembers his Sky finding him earlier. the sound makes the fingers in his hair twitch, and he realises that he’s woken his Sky, and feels a little bit guilty about that; the recovery from the Ring Battles has been slow for all of them, between the nightmares and the injuries, and even after nearly ten weeks, none of them are sleeping that well. (Leviathan and the Cervello have a lot to answer for.) 

“Hayato?” his Sky mumbles his name, and he can’t make himself pretend to still be asleep.

“Yes, Juudaime?” he tries to sit up, but the hand in his hair shifts to his shoulder and pushes him back down. he settles his head back into his Sky’s lap and is rewarded by his hair being stroked again, and Sky Flames, and  _oh_  that feels nice.

“Are you okay?” he’s not quite sure what his Sky is asking, but then he blinks as the memory of Tsuna turning Reborn into an ice-cube for  _him_  resurfaces and his cheeks heat. “You were so hurt when I dragged you here earlier, and that wasn’t right - or fair - of Reborn to be that mean.” the hand in his hair scritches his scalp gently, and he wants to purr. (and wince a little bit, because his Sky had read his _emotional_ pain, and that aches, because for him to be familiar with it enough to do so …)

“Been called worse before.” his Sky makes a disappointed noise at him and he frowns in confusion. 

“That doesn’t make it any less hurtful, or wrong. And everyone keeps telling me that my Guardians are  _mine_  to look after, and that means I get to object when you’re hurt.” his Sky’s lips curve into a smile. “Dino-nii’s going to take Reborn back to Italy and let Aria, who is apparently his daughter and ‘official’ Sky, shout at him for a bit.” he sort of wants to see that; the image of someone shouting at Reborn for his behaviour is priceless. “But that’s beside the point. I asked if you were okay. Are you?”

his Sky is worried about him. how does he deserve this? he doesn’t, but oh, he  _wants_  to be taken care of. “I will be. It’s - I went Active because -” the words catch in his throat; he doesn’t  _want_  to tell anyone about that day that he’d nearly been… “I - I’ll tell you the whole story one day, Juudaime. But Reborn’s a hypocrite.” the fingers in his hair scritch at the back of his neck soothingly, and he actually does purr at that. “He  _was_  notorious for seducing his targets.”

“That was an adorable sound, Hayato.” he feels a little bit self-conscious, and stiffens, but there’s more Sky Flames, and the touch stays gentle, and focused on his hair and the back of his neck, and he relaxes again. “I’d love to coax you into making more sounds like that at some point.” he twitches uncomfortably; what does his Sky want? “But  _only_ if you want to let me.” the fingers in his hair find a new spot that seems to make his bones melt and he whines. his Sky is petting his hair and isn’t asking for more and oh, what did he do to deserve this?

“Oh Hayato. It’s not about  _deserve_. It’s -” he realises he’d said the last bit out loud. “- competence and loyalty are both really, really attractive, but it’s not just that. You’re bright and funny, and too good for Dame-Tsuna, -” 

he squeaks and jolts up. “Juudaime! No! You’re not ‘Dame’, you’re  _not_!” he’s horrified; his Juudaime is kind, and sweet, and too good to be calling himself Dame.

“Hayato, even my Kaa-san calls me Dame. Admittedly it’s become less common over the last few months, but she does. And you’ve seen how bad my scores at school are.”

“Those don’t matter, Juudaime. You -” he fumbles for the right words, “- you’re not Dame because you’re  _you_. Would other people have saved Takeshi and me from ourselves the way you did? Or -” a finger presses against his lips, and he  _blushes_.

“People have been calling me Dame-Tsuna since I was tiny, Hayato. Like I think people like Reborn have been calling you a whore since you started doing what you had to do to survive, and both hurt.” he leans back against his Sky, trying to offer him comfort as best as he can, and experiments with making the purring sound again, recognising that his Juudaime is in the process of ripping one of his own scars open. Juudaime wraps his arms hesitantly around him, and he twitches, but the hug feels good and he melts against his Sky’s chest.

“How about we both promise to ignore the idiots that call us names, and we, um, try and figure out -” he babbles the next bit, not quite sure he would be ready for anything any time soon, but still wanting to put it out there now, rather than have it sneak up on him and his Sky say no, and it break him then, “- if-maybe-eventually-someday-we-could-be-boyfriends-for-real?” he can feel his whole face heat; he’s surprised he’s not setting things on  _fire_ and please don’t let this disgust his Sky. he  _wants_ this to work out. he’s not ready yet but if his Juudaime says there’s no chance at  _all_  he doesn’t know what he’ll do.

“I’d like that Hayato. But not till we’ve both managed to sort our heads out a bit more than we’ve managed so far? I know I need to stop thinking of myself as Dame-Tsuna first, but can we still cuddle? I slept better than I have in ages with you curled up with me,” his Sky trails off wistfully.

he had, too. he gets cold so easily, and heating is expensive. “We can definitely do cuddles. And maybe we could find an excuse for you to do homework at my apartment so we can watch some anime and curl up together where it won’t matter if we fall asleep?”

“And maybe watch some of the things you like, Hayato, too. I know what’s on TV lately and there’s only a few I think you’d really enjoy.” his Sky sounds amused and happier; he’d love to keep that tone in Tsuna’s voice. “And I think I’d like to see what you find interesting.”

he blushes again and buries his head in his Sky’s chest as the hand sneaks back into his hair, but doesn’t protest. “I don’t really know how to do this, Tsuna.”

his Sky makes a pleased sound at the use of his name that makes the butterflies in his stomach do flips. “We’ll just have to make it up as we go along, Hayato. I don’t think the examples I’ve had were very good either.” he thinks of Nana and Iemitsu and shudders. there is something just  _wrong_  there and he doesn’t like to think about that, and neither does his Sky. he realises he’s stopped thinking of him as ‘Juudaime’ somewhere along the way and wonders at that.

there’s a sound from downstairs, and he doesn’t want to move, but he’s going to be lucky if that’s ‘only’ Nana coming home. it’s far more likely to be the brats, and he doesn’t want to share this, yet, but - “Have you done tomorrow’s homework yet, Tsuna?”

“Hiiieee! There was homework?” he bites back a giggle, and makes himself get off his Sky, and off the bed.

“There is.” there’s  _always_  homework. “But it also makes a really good excuse for why I’m dragging you out of the house, Tsuna.” the flush that blooms across his Sky’s face when Tsuna registers that he’s still wearing the bandages and leather pants is adorable, and he can definitely see teasing him with it later. when they’re  _both_  ready. “Do you want me to button the shirt up?”

“Not really. You’re very pretty, Hayato. But it might be a good idea? The neighbours are -” his Sky waves his hands, but he gets the meaning, and the praise and the possessiveness both make him squirm in a good way, and he buttons up the shirt. there’s nothing he can do about the leather pants, but the buttoned shirt was chosen specifically so he could cover up with it if he needed to.

“Coming?” his cheeks heat as he realises what he’s just said. he half expects Tsuna to tease him about it, but his Sky just smiles gently.

“Eventually. But right now, can you see if you can spot the homework sheet on my desk?” he busies himself looking for the sheet while his Sky throws things into his bag - including a change of clothes - and even though they’re not going to do anything other than fall asleep on his futon, that makes him really happy.

“Tsuna?” his Sky makes a questioning noise from across the room. “Why -” he hesitates, not sure how to ask this. “Why me? What happened to…to Sasagawa-chan?”

“She was one of the few people who was nice to me before. I thought that meant -” his Sky pauses, “- she was the school idol, too. A crush on her was ‘acceptable’ and Reborn took that and twisted it, and assumed and I just assumed, maybe I’d be more interested when I was a bit older? But it hasn’t happened, and she’s - even after the Ring Battles, she’s still oblivious and airheaded and  _delicate_  and that’s not what I need or want from a partner, Hayato.” he hears the words Tsuna doesn’t say, ones that go against Iemitsu’s hypermasculinity and Reborn’s ladykiller tendencies, and his heart aches for his Sky.

“You’re not…you’re not interested in girls at  _all_ , are you, Tsuna?” he needs to know, because he wants to help his Sky, and the answer will go a long way towards confirming some of his theories on Tsuna’s behavior when they’d met; like why he was so set on avoiding everyone, even people who didn’t bully him. why his Sky never befriended Sasagawa-chan and the baseball idiot. ‘unacceptable’ feelings and the fear of rejection by even friends for his preferences would have gone a long way towards making Tsuna feel completely alone; would explain why he never tried to make friends outside Nami-chuu and Namimori Elementary.

“Takeshi’s cute in his baseball uniform, and before you, Hayato, that’s the nearest I came to being interested in anyone.” he could see that. the baseball idiot did get all kinds of interesting when he was focused on winning a match, and the first traits Tsuna had picked out when babbling about liking him were competence and loyalty and the idiot’s loyalty to his team? “Between walking in on your sister showering, and picking up some shounen-ai by mistake, I figured it out.” oh, the mental image of his Sky realising he’d bought shounen-ai accidentally is cute. the look on his Sky’s face as he’d read it and realised must have been telling, and adorable; he wishes he’d been there to see that. then the rest of the statement registers, and he blinks. Tsuna really isn’t kidding about the lack of attraction. if he ignores the fact that Bianchi is his sister, and an evil witch who he still hasn’t forgiven for the poison, then he has to admit she’s pretty. really, really pretty. it’s part of how she racks up her kill count; people can’t believe that a beautiful woman can actually kill them.

(of course that’s the moment that he spots the homework sheet sticking out of the latest volume of one of the manga he’s seen his Sky reading in the past and he pounces on it as a distraction from his racing thoughts.)

“Found the homework sheet. You were using it as a bookmark.” there’s more sounds from downstairs, at least two people moving around, and he eyes the window thoughtfully. “How athletic are you feeling, Tsuna?” his Sky tilts his head and listens to the noises from downstairs, and there’s a ripple in the Flames saturating the room. (and okay, that is the one good bit about the Ring Battles. they’d more or less annihilated the Seal, and he can’t regret the opportunity to bask in Tsuna’s Flames.)

“It’s just Kaa-san and I-Pin. Your sister took Reborn off for Dino to defrost after we left him in the street, and I think Lambo’s with Takeshi and Fuuta. We don’t  _need_  to climb out of the window, Hayato.” that erases  _some_ of the stress and worry, but not all of it; he still doesn’t like the feeling he gets from Nana, and after Tsuna’s earlier confession that she still sometimes calls his Sky - her own son - ‘Dame’, well, he’s not too enthusiastic about seeing her.

but they manage to make it out the door without too much trouble, and when Tsuna hands him an old coat that must have once been Iemitsu’s from the size he puts it on and smiles.


	3. Chapter 3

it's only when they get to his door that he remembers what his apartment  _looks_  like. he freezes just before he turns the key in his door. he’s bringing his Sky into his apartment, and it’s tiny and bare and compared to Tsuna’s home, it’s shabby and tired and cold.

“Hayato? What's wrong?” because of  _course_  Tsuna notices his hesitation. he almost wants to turn around and go back to his Sky's bedroom; at least there it's warm and comfortable. but instead he gathers up all of his courage and opens his door and lets Tsuna into his apartment. warm Sky Flames curl around him almost immediately and he is so grateful for Tsuna in that moment. “Oh, Hayato.”

“I have everything I need, Juudaime.” the words rush out defensively and he regrets them almost as soon as they’re uttered. “I mean it’s dry and I’ve never been burgled and it’s all I need.”

he can feel his Sky's shock at that, and he  _really_ doesn't want to look at the face Tsuna's making. “Oh, Hayato, it certainly is  _not_  all that you need. It's cold and empty and lonely, and I can  _do_  something about that. Please. Let me?” there's a hand on his arm, and Tsuna leans into him as they walk in and Hayato closes and locks the door. “And really? I thought we were past the title, ‘Gokudera-kun’.” he has to wince at that as they shed the coats. he's just realising that the last thing Tsuna needs is to be put on a pedestal and he’s already slipping up. he doesn’t know how to accept the offered help, though. he’s been on his own since he ran and really this isn’t so bad? he gets enough to eat most of the time and no-one has tried to do anything he didn’t want.

“Sorry. I got defensive, Tsuna. I - I’ve been on my own since I ran and this is good compared to - it’s warm enough to sleep out in Sicily for most of the year.”

“Hiiee! But it's winter now, Hayato! And really cold! I don't know what you did before, and right now I don't care, but this is just…” his Sky pauses, and pulls him into one of those warm hugs he never wants to lose. “I won't accept this for you. You deserve better, and I told you I have far too much money and all of it dirty. Let's do something good with it for a change. All I’ve done so far is buy manga and food.” the thought that Tsuna  _needs_  to buy his own food makes him seethe and his Flames twist, but the thought of taking care of his Sky settles them.

“If you’re sure, Tsuna. I’d like that I think. It got really cold last winter.” he hides his face in his Sky’s hair, breathing in his scent and basking in the warmth of Tsuna’s Flames.

“For now, let's turn up the heat a bit? Please? It's cold.” he can feel Tsuna shaking against him; now that he's this close, he can tell that his Sky is possibly as thin as he is, and the damage the Seal had done is probably making things even worse. he has to be absolutely freezing.

“I’ll grab the blankets, Tsuna. The heater’s over there. It’s just a plug-in one.” the heater isn’t very strong, but it was marketed as safe to leave on over night, and it takes the damp chill out of the air. he hasn’t got very many extra blankets, but if they curl up together then they’ll probably be warm enough for now. “I'm sorry, Tsuna. If I'd been thinking I'd have stopped to get snacks, and all I have is coffee and water.” he brings his blankets over to the table and wraps them around his Sky.

Tsuna grabs the edge of the blankets from him, and his hand as well. “Shhh. We can go and get something later. Right now water and more cuddling would be good Hayato. And maybe we can figure out what we need to buy to make you more comfortable.” he panics, and jumps away to get them some water and to avoid another slip of the title he's trying to stop using. his Sky huddles in the blankets and he double checks that the door to his lab is actually shut; he’s not sure he wants to know what Tsuna will say when he realises that he makes his own explosives in what  _should_  be his bedroom. he's lucky - Tsuna doesn't seem to notice him looking towards the door, and it's closed.

Tsuna takes one of the glasses of water from him and then pats the space beside him. “You look cold too, Hayato. Isn’t sharing body heat supposed to help?” he blushes, but given that he really wants to curl against his Sky again he takes Tsuna up on his unsubtle request and hums in delight when Tsuna shifts and leans against him and wraps him up in the blanket bundle with him.

they sit in companionable silence for a precious few minutes before Tsuna asks the question he’s been dreading. “You really  _do_  need the money, don’t you, Hayato?”

he whines and curls around his Sky, hiding his face in Tsuna's fluffy hair again. “I don't like to admit it, but I really, really do. It's just hard to rely on anyone else, and even harder sometimes to remember there are people I  _can_  lean on. And it’s harder here. I could get contracts in Sicily, but the demon prefect has the yakuza terrified to  _breathe_ in Namimori.”

he feels Tsuna freeze, and the tone in his Sky's voice makes him shiver. "Never again, Hayato. I will never let you get to the point you have to kill for money again.” there’s a bit of him that wants to protest. he’s  _good_  at killing. good enough to be Named. good enough to survive six years on the streets. killing people to keep his Sky safe is one of his  _jobs_  and he doesn’t know how to explain the near half-dozen bodies he’s buried around Namimori keeping Tsuna safe.

“I said something wrong, didn’t I, Hayato?” his Sky squirms closer, and he gives up and pulls Tsuna sideways into his lap. “I don’t mean that you shouldn’t kill at all. Just that you don’t need to take contracts. I understand there are likely people who want to kill me just for being Vongola.” Tsuna’s head tilts as he considers something. “You've had to deal with a few of them, haven't you?”

“Reborn considers it part of my ‘job’ when it comes to you, Tsuna. And I really don’t mind. I’m good at it and it’s to protect you.” he allows himself a rueful smile. “The Varia - or at least yakyuu-baka’s opponent - weren’t very discreet. Add in Fuuta, and we’ve had, um, one a week, roughly, since the Battles. Hibari’s minions have gotten half of them, give or take - I’m not quite sure what they’ve done with them - I know I dealt with four, and I think yakyuu-baka’s father got the last one.” his Sky is quiet for a moment.

“And Reborn didn’t give you a bonus payment or anything for dealing with them, Hayato?”

“He sent Bianchi away for a day or two so I didn’t have to deal with her. I appreciated it?” now that Tsuna mentions it he really should have gotten payment.

“You shouldn’t have to deal with her at  _all_ , Hayato. One of these days I’m going to actually get her out of Namimori for good.” he snuggles closer to his Sky. “Given how much the Ninth put in that account, I’m going to do something about that, because if he didn’t pay  _you_ , I bet he didn’t pay Yamamoto-san or Hibari-san’s men, either.” Tsuna sounds grumpy, and he doesn’t blame him; Reborn really isn’t as responsible as he should be.

“If you’re still insisting on buying me furniture, just spend my part on that.” he can’t take that much money from his Sky!

“Mhmm. Can I borrow your laptop, Hayato? I think I need to show you something.” he’s a little bit confused, but pulls the laptop out of where he hides it - just in case - when he leaves the apartment, and Tsuna clicks and types away at it for a few minutes, pulling up a web-page and then entering a password, and a second password, and then the laptop is being shoved back at him. “There’s nineteen  _million_  yen in that account, Hayato, and he keeps adding more to it.” the numbers look almost unreal, and he has to convert it back to Euros and then to the Lira he grew up using for the numbers to make sense, and he  _knows_  that the Vongola are wealthy, but this is  _ridiculous_ , and he whimpers. 

“Hayato, are you okay?” he makes an incoherent noise. “Do you need to lie down? I know I did when I saw the account.” he nods, but can’t seem to move. in the end, Tsuna nudges at him until they’re both laying down, and his Sky curls round him again, and his mind’s being ridiculous because he notices everything, including just how thin his Sky is when he’s pressed against him. he’s used to his own ribs being prominent, knows they shouldn’t really be, but his Sky is even thinner than he is. he’s going to need to talk to Shamal, maybe? 

“I knew the Vongola had money, Tsuna. Xanxus and the others arrived in Japan in a private jet, and they took over the best suite in the big hotel downtown. I just didn’t think they had enough that they’d consider that much as a  _basic_  allowance.” he leans back into Tsuna and his Sky radiates Flames at him. 

“How much do you think I should give Kusakabe-senpai for Hibari’s Committee, Hayato?” his Sky is almost devious, it’s adorable. and the way Tsuna knows he’d undervalue himself but not others? he does some quick calculations in his head.

“Uh. My father gave anyone who intercepted a genuine threat about five million lira, if I remember correctly?”

“In Yen, please, Hayato.” that’s definitely exasperation in his Tsuna’s voice.

“About five hundred thousand yen? Maybe, I’d have to look up the historical exchange rate.” his Sky hums, a tiny chaotic noise that he’s almost definitely picked up from Reborn.

“I can definitely afford two million yen for the Committee, then. And the same for you, Hayato, and some for Yamamoto-san, too, and the Ninth will probably just put the money back if he realises what it was for. Especially if that’s considered normal.”

“Two. Million. Yen.” his mind blanks again, and he’s probably making a gormless fish face or something, and at least his Sky is charitable enough not to laugh at him.

“Now you know what I thought when I saw fifteen million yen in the account and that he was adding two million yen a month to it, Hayato.” at least he’d grown up around money? His impression is that the pickaxe-for-brains idiot masquerading as his Sky’s father sends enough money for Nana to keep a nice house and stay home and take care of everyone living there, but it definitely seems to be a normal house for Namimori, so Tsuna probably doesn’t have a frame of reference for wealth. “We could do a lot to make you more comfortable with two million yen, I think.”

he’s only a little bit ashamed of the squeak. his objection has definitely just backfired. “That’s far too much, Tsuna. You’re my Sky! And my friend. I’d protect you anyway.”

“We can start with a better heater, and some food, and get a proper futon ordered for you, too, Hayato.” His Sky has a gentle, implacable tone in his voice and he folds; when his Tsuna sets his will to something there is no turning him. “And sushi. If I’m going to start spending his money on more ‘worthy’ causes, us getting to eat sushi in peace - without having Reborn try to pull an eat-and-dash -  _definitely_  counts, and we both need to eat something so we can shop sensibly.” his stomach rumbles at the thought of food, and his Sky’s stomach answers with its own growl.

“Then I need to get changed, Tsuna. I’m not sure yakyuu-baka’s father would appreciate me in his restaurant dressed to, uh, tempt men.” his Sky squeaks. There’s a second squeak when he shrugs the blankets off, and starts unbuttoning the shirt, and he remembers that Japan is a little more conservative about some things, and…

“I’ll turn around, Hayato, and shift things around in that account so that we can draw enough money for the groceries. I was worried about someone stealing the card so I set its withdrawal limit intentionally low.” he hands the laptop back to his Sky, who shuffles around, and types away while he strips and redresses.

“Done, Tsuna.”

his Sky turns back to him, and he’s confused when Tsuna blushes. “Um, you might want to, uh,” his Sky trails off, and gestures at his ears. 

“Oh.” he’s completely forgotten about his piercings; they’re a part of him, and it had felt good to put them back in this morning. of the ones that he’d put back in, the ear chain is the easiest to remove again, and he places it back in the jewelery case. once that’s out, he removes the nose-stud carefully - he needs to clean that piercing, and buy a clear sleeper stud for it - which leaves his tongue stud, and he sticks his tongue out, and there’s a ‘hiiee!’ from his Sky.

it takes a bit of concentration to remove the stud from his tongue. when it’s out, he looks at his Sky, and Tsuna’s scarlet, and his Sky has definitely read some of the more detailed yaoi to be  _that_  red. “Doesn’t that feel weird, Hayato?”

“I like the way it looks, and the assumptions it causes people to make are - were - useful.” he slots the stud back into his jewelry case. (Shamal had given it to him, and told him it had belonged to his mother Lavina, and it’s one of his most precious possessions.)

* * *

His son’s Sky - and Tsunayoshi is  _definitely_  his son’s Sky; Takeshi is more stable around him, and determined to protect the smaller boy - drags one of the other Elements in their little group into Takesushi with him, and he wants to smile. He’s been a bit concerned about how good a Sky Nana’s boy will be - his example was atrocious; he’d never seen the boy’s notional father with an Element who was actually  _his_  on the man’s rare visits to Japan - but the improvement in his son, and the way the boy is fussing over his Storm speaks volumes to someone who recognises what they’re seeing.

“Um. Yamamoto-san, can we have one of the private booths for lunch, please? I can pay now if you need me to?” He uses his own Flames to check the immediate surroudings, and then shakes his head, softly.

“You don’t need to do that, Tsunayoshi-kun. My boy told me about what happened, and I trust  _you_  to pay for your meal. Your tutor, not so much, but two of his colleagues had warned me about him, independently of each other. The two of you can have the booth in the back; it’ll be the quietest and the safest, and if you tell me what you want for lunch, I’ll bring it back for you as soon as it’s ready.” And he’ll feed the boys the most calorific and nutritous versions of whatever they order; both look far too thin. “Do you want me to call Takeshi in to join you? He’s out the back with Fuuta-kun and Lambo-chan, enjoying the sunshine, and teaching them how to play baseball.”

The two boys exchange a look, and Tsunayoshi’s Sky wraps more tightly around his Storm. “I think we better leave him to his fun, Yamamoto-san.” He takes a closer look of his own at the Storm protectively wrapped in his Sky’s Flames and agrees. He loves his son, but Takeshi can be a little rambunctious and Gokudera-kun looks exhausted, as well as far too thin. “Can we have an order of baked katsudon each, a plate of chuutoro nigiri, whatever grilled vegetables you think are good today, and some tea, please? We both need to warm up.”

He leads them to the booth, and turns the heater up before he leaves them to talk while he prepares the tea they’d requested. When he returns with the pot of tea (and he dug this one out of the house cabinet, rather than the restaurant stores - the restaurant pots are small), the two of them are leaning against each other, and it’s adorable. (The Storm walks past the restaurant every morning, and his silly son joins him, but the boy has always looked wary and behaved like an abused cat, so to see him almost melting into his Sky speaks volumes about how good a Sky his son has found.)

He’ll swap the chuutoro for some otoro - he doubts that either boy is familiar enough with the different grades of tuna to notice the substitution - and there are some additions he can make to the rice bowls that will increase their nutritional value too. “Are you okay with waribashi, or would you like some western cutlery, Gokudera-kun?”

“Hashi are fine, sir.” The Storm actually smiles, at least a little bit, rather than his more normal scowl. “I’ve been using them since I was eight or so.” There’s a story there, but he’ll wait to find out what it was, especially as when he closes the door, Gokudera-kun is the one pouring the tea, and doing so fairly skillfully.

The restaurant’s quiet, and he indulges himself in a little knife play as he prepares the food for the boys. When he’s done, he arranges the plates and bowls on a tray, and carries it through to their booth. The two of them are sat next to each other and his lips twitch. Even more revealing is the way that their Flames are curling around each other, Gokudera-kun’s Flames remarkably Cloudy, and that explains the missing part of why the boy prickles at his son at least some of the time; he’ll have to drop some hints to Takeshi.

“I know it’s not exactly restaurant-standard katsudon, but both my Eiko and Takeshi used to love when I made it this way. I thought you’d appreciate a bit more of a home-cooked feel.” Warm Sky Flames carry genuine appreciation, and it's a little startling, especially when one compares it to Iemitsu’s prickly Flames, and the previous distinct lack of Flames around Tsunayoshi-kun.

“That looks delicious Yamamoto-san. Thank you.” He leaves the door to the booth cracked, and the glimpses he catches as he passes back and forth to the cold room are very telling, and very cute; he’ll have to keep a weather eye on his son, to make sure that Takeshi understands that they likely aren’t trying to exclude him, and that there is nothing wrong with Tsunayoshi and Hayato’s budding relationship. He doesn’t think there will be an issue, but who knows what his silly son has picked up from his baseball team?

When he goes to pick up the money the boys left he almost chokes at the amount on the table; then he notices the note left behind. In a more elegant, flowing hand than Tsunayoshi’s spiky characters - Gokudera-kun’s writing? - is the message “For going through the trouble of dealing with intruders.” He doesn’t need the bounty money at all, and Tsunayoshi has saved his son’s life twice now: first on the roof and then by being an actual friend and his bonded Sky. Maybe he can find something to do with it, something for the two of them? Until then, he’ll set it aside.


	4. Chapter 4

he feels kind of shell-shocked when they arrive back at his apartment. his arms are full of grocery bags, and his Sky had over-ridden him on several things. “I still don’t understand what half of this is for, Tsuna! I can’t cook, and I don’t even recognise some of this stuff. And did we _need_ the rice cooker?”

“We definitely needed the rice cooker, Hayato. It’s a staple, and much better for you than the ready ramen you tried to fill the basket with.” he blinks at Tsuna’s insistent tone.

“But last time I made rice it turned into a mass of gel, which then _blew up_ , Tsuna. It’s why I wanted the ramen. If all I have to do is add water, it usually doesn’t explode. Unless I’m _really_ stressed, and then it’s safest just to eat the dry noodles.” he can feel Tsuna’s shocked eyes on his back, and avoids the situation by starting to put their groceries away.

“I can cook, Hayato. I _enjoy_ cooking even. But when Reborn invaded…” his Sky trails off, and he puts the canned vegetables into one of the cupboards so that he doesn’t blow up in anger on his Sky’s behalf. “Kaa-san won’t let me cook with her any more. And she’s cooking far more western food for Lambo and Reborn; she used to make katsudon a bit like Yamamoto-san’s for me, especially when I’d had a bad day, but she hasn’t made it in more than a year.” which probably explains why his Sky had been so delighted to see it on the menu at Takesushi.

then what Tsuna said hits his brain. his Sky can _cook_? the idea that his Sky can cook is utterly adorable, and he blushes at the image that pops into his mind: his Tsuna in an apron, with a wooden spoon in his hand, turning towards him with an ‘okaeri!’ - he pushes the image back into a little box in his head, not ready for where it seems to be going. his face must be steaming.

“Then you can cook, and I’ll play sous-chef? I have recipe books; I even remember recipes, ones from the cooks in the kitchens at the Castle. I just can’t make them without them exploding, and I wish that Bianchi -” he cuts himself off from ranting about his sister. he’s fairly sure that ‘something’ cooking runs in his father’s family, but she seems almost oblivious to it, which probably isn’t helped by the fact she could eat her own cooking.

the last of the food is put away, so he busies himself unpacking the rice cooker and barely notices when Tsuna asks where the bathroom is; his answer is just as absent as his mind. “Down the hall, door on the left.”

" **Hiiiieeeee**! _Gokudera Hayato_! What is the meaning of _this_?!" he freezes, then leaves the rice cooker alone to slink over to where Tsuna is standing at the open door, horrified and cringing. oh, shit, he'd meant the door on the _right_ , not the left; that's his lab!

“That’s, uh, where I make my explosives, Juudaime.” damn, the title again; but he’s scared, and ashamed. that _is_ supposed to be his bedroom, after all, and the room is set up ready for his new batch, too. it’s one of the things he needs the cash for. he can feel his Sky's anger, at the title and _especially_ at the fact that what should be a bedroom is currently housing dangerous chemicals, and he winces; one of the things he really appreciates about his Sky is that he’s almost never furious, but this…

“No, this is _supposed_ to be your _bedroom_ , Hayato. This is dangerous.” he knows working with the chemicals he does is dangerous. it’s why he doesn’t want Tsuna anywhere near it; not because he’s afraid of his Sky messing with anything, but because of exactly what just happened; he needs his dynamite to protect his Sky and his Sky is going to make him stop ‘messing with chemicals’ and… the next words out of Tsuna’s mouth, though, aren’t what he expected. “This is getting moved, and soon. I don’t want you working with this in an improperly ventilated room. I am _not_ looking forward to asking Hibari-san about moving you into a lab at Nami-chuu, but it will have to happen.”

“Tsuna?!” he’s shocked. his Sky won’t force him to stop making explosives? Tsuna wants him to move his lab into a proper room? with proper ventilation and equipment? is willing to face down _Hibari_ for him?

“Hibari-san is terrifying, but I’m more terrified of losing you. And he did fight with us during the Ring Battles. If I phrase it as reducing the risk to Namimori, he’ll probably be reasonably willing to listen,” his Sky bites his lip, “- I suspect that he’s well aware of the ‘false carnivores’ that have been trespassing on his territory, and that you’ve dealt with a number of them, and without damaging his town, too.”

he flails mentally. Tsuna’s Flames are heavy in the room, and he can _feel_ his Sky’s intent, that he’s not angry with _him_ , that this is again anger _for_ him, _with_ Reborn, for not organising proper accomadation and facilities for him. “Is there anything you need to do with this to make it safe to move, Hayato?” his Sky smiles, and there are far too many teeth for that to be comforting. “And you can consider me buying you a proper western style bed, and that room being turned back into your bedroom your ‘punishment’, too.”

he’s actually sort of relieved to have that described as his punishment. it’s reassuring, because it means it’s not going to be looming over him, but a western-style bed is going to be _expensive_! “I keep everything in as stable a form as possible, Juu-Tsuna. And I’m out of the most volatile of the chemicals, anyway. But I should pack these away myself, just in case.”

“Then you can pack them away now, Hayato, while I finish putting things away and put some rice on so I can make us bento for tomorrow.” the butterflies in his stomach are back again at the thought of his Sky making him bento.

it takes him all of ten minutes to wrap up the glassware; he’d left his chemicals safely stored in their cases, and all he needs to do is check that the flasks are firmly seated in the foam inserts. once that’s done, he lines all three cases up out of the direct sunlight (he’s just being careful; nothing in there _should_ explode in the weak winter light, but he isn’t going to risk his Sky’s safety).

he tiptoes back into the living area to find his laptop out, and plugged in on his low table, the heater on, and turned up as far as it would go, two steaming mugs of tea and the components of a pair of bento on the counter. “You’re not in trouble, Hayato. The only one I’m angry at is currently encased in zero-point ice, and on the way to Italy.” his Sky smiles at him. “I borrowed one of your clean socks to make a makeshift heat pack; the blankets should be warm if you want to burrow into them and put on, um, what was the show you were babbling about with the explosions and the science?”

“Mythbusters. And I’ve only got the Italian subtitles, Tsuna.”

“You can translate for me, Hayato; I enjoy listening to your voice when you’re interested in something.” he queues up the second season of Mythbusters on his laptop. the blankets are actually warm, and his Sky joins him on the futon, bringing the tea over and setting the mugs on the table.

his Sky wriggles into the pile of blankets, and curls close to him, and the warmth is - he’s never been so warm in his own apartment - and he presses play, and begins to murmur an appropriate translation. it’s good practise for his Japanese, and his Sky is genuinely appreciating it. (he blushes a little bit when he feels a tiny bit of lust suffusing Tsuna’s Flames, but he also recognises that it’s not _conscious_ desire, nor something that his Sky intends to act on, so he chooses to just enjoy the compliment.)

Tsuna turns to look up at him after the toilet actually explodes, and his tone is deadpan. "Hayato? I'm going to make one thing extremely clear. As much as I’m enjoying watching this show with you - and want to watch _all_ of it, because the Science actually makes sense - Reborn _never_ sees it. Agreed?"

“He wouldn’t.” but then again, the more he thinks about it, the more likely it seems. the man thrives on chaos.

“The _Vongola Birthday Traditions_ , Hayato.” there’s a dry quality to Tsuna’s voice that conveys morbid amusement. this side of his Sky is new, and why hasn’t he seen this side of him before?

“Good point. We should probably keep it away from Lambo too. No one deserves to have a grenade dropped in their toilet.” his Sky actually laughs loudly at that, for once not panicked at the idea, and he has to wonder how much of Tsuna’s personality had been smothered by bullying, and is now stifled under the fear and pressure Reborn puts on him.

“Unless he does it to Reborn. Then it’d be funny. But Lambo doesn’t have the self-control to limit his targets.” he snickers at the mental image, but agrees with his Sky about Lambo’s lack of target discrimination, and leans forward to play the next episode.

“This is one of my favourite episodes.” they watch, and he translates, and enjoys the explosions and the spark of lust in his Tsuna’s Flames.

“Hayato, have you used that technique to blow someone up?” is that amusement in his Sky’s voice? it can't be.

“Mhmm. It worked really well. And it isn’t obviously a Mafia technique, either, which meant that it got put down as an ‘accident’.” he freezes, waiting for his Sky to realise what he’d asked and that he’d replied in the affirmative.

“I could see that.” his Sky chews his lip for a moment, but isn't distressed. “Does that mean you can use your Flames properly? I didn’t see you using them in the Ring Battles, and I thought from the way Reborn was acting, them actually being useable was a Sky thing.”

“He’s been privileged for a long time, Tsuna. And well, they require a Dying Will to use, and trying to survive on your own as a child provides plenty of opportunity to find it. And they’re useful, too. So once I found them, I used them, and I just never told Reborn I could. As to why I didn’t use them in the Storm Battle? Belphegor didn’t use any of his, and I wanted to see if I could win on a level playing field.” he finds himself sprawled on the futon, with his Sky hugging him tightly.

“You, you, _idiot_! Do you know how much that battle scared me, Hayato, when I called for you and you didn’t respond, and the explosions happened, and I thought I’d lost you, and I’d just figured out I liked you!” fluffy hair tickles his nose, and he squeaks as his Sky’s face makes contact with his throat. it isn’t deliberate, which helps, but he still freezes, and it’s only his Sky’s Flames and how very slight he is that stops him having a full-blown flashback.

“Tsuna! Tsuna, no! Please!” he’s scared, and begging, and he can’t think, and he manages to not actually throw Tsuna, but it’s a near thing. he squirms out from under Tsuna, and backs against the wall, and shakes. “Just… please. Don’t… don’t do that. Don’t touch me right now.” he can feel Tsuna’s confusion, but he can’t make himself look up, or say anything else.

“What can I do to help, Hayato?” Sky Flames wrap around him, and he can feel the genuine concern Tsuna has.

“I… I don’t know. I never had anyone care before. I just…I just deal with it.” he’s still curled against the corner, back to the join of the walls, and even the thought of looking at anyone else makes him shudder, and curl tighter.

“You shouldn’t have to deal with it on your own, Hayato. Can I make us both a bit more tea? I’ll need to get up though; will that be okay?”

he thinks about it, and nods. “Just…don’t stand up too close?”

“I can do that, Hayato. Will it make it easier if I talk through what I’m doing before I do it, so you know where I am in the room?”

“Mm. Or just talk. I like your voice, too.” it’s true; Tsuna’s voice when he’s calm is amazingly soothing and just a bit deeper than when he’s in the state of near-panic Reborn seems to constantly cultivate. not as deep as when he’s in Hyper Mode, but close.

“That works. Going to stand up now, Hayato,” his Sky stands, careful not to loom over him. “- the tea has gotten cold, so it’s too bitter now, and we bought plenty. I think there’s even some chamomile, if that would help you?” his Sky prattles on as he moves slowly around the room. “Or there was some honey in the groceries, if you’d rather have something sweeter to drink?”

“Green tea with honey is good, Juu-Tsuna.” his Sky busies himself in the kitchen area, and he tries to calm his racing pulse, and he finds himself cataloging all of the sounds that his Sky is making: the mugs emptying, the sink running, the microwave.

“Hayato, what made you panic? I’m not upset, but I need to know what I did wrong so that I don’t do it again.” Tsuna’s sliding back onto the futon, handing him a mug.

“I…don’t like to talk about it, but…” he takes a deep breath, a sip of tea, and feels himself relaxing a bit. “The incident that woke my Flames… I was… I was about nine. There was a man. I don’t remember much, but he… Juudai… Tsuna, he tried to rape me. His hands were everywhere and he was on top of me and then…” he’s shaking, he can’t breathe again, and he forces himself to take another sip of tea, and then a gulp. “When he tried to bite my neck, there was red fire - Storm Flames - and he was screaming, and just… I ran.”

“He deserved to die that way, Hayato. You didn’t deserve to be attacked. You really didn’t.” there’s a small, soft hand touching his. “I’m also truly grateful you survived.” he squirms a little; his Sky’s Flames had wrapped tightly around him while he’d been speaking, and they feel fierce and protective, and that helps, too. His Sky’s lips curve in wry humour. “I have no problem - well, no _theoretical_ problem - with letting you be the one on top, as long as I get to touch. Not that I’m proposing we do that now, but anything that happens we should both enjoy, Hayato. Which means figuring out what makes either of us uncomfortable.”

he squeaks. it’s the only response he can make to his Sky’s statement. that and to blush; the image his Sky had just planted in his head had _almost_ displaced the image of six years ago, and the idea of having his Tsuna under him to touch actually helps. he _knows_ intellectually that what had happened is wrong, that it shouldn’t have happened, and his Sky actually being okay with his, his trigger, enough to not run, and to offer a counter image, the reminder that touch could be good. he’ll have to remember that that sort of reframed image can help. he isn’t ready to try and put that mental image into play, but he’d seen his Sky happy and pleased, and the composite image, of him kissing his Sky’s throat, and Tsuna _enjoying_ it? his mind races, but it isn’t panic, isn’t fear, -

“I didn’t just break you again, did I, Hayato?” he shakes his head, and takes another sip of his tea.

“That actually helped.” he carefully shifts himself closer to his Sky again, testing himself cautiously. he’s coming down from the adrenaline spike, and is already feeling chilled and shaky. Tsuna lets him choose, and that helps him to lean against his Sky again and soak in his Flames. “I’ll do some research, Tsuna.”

“That sounds reasonable, Haya. If you find anything about, uh, absent parents, and how to work through their messes, can you save it for me?”

“Sure, Tsuna.” then what his Sky had called him registers, and his brain stutters. “H-h-haya?!” his cheeks heat again, and he feels the blush spread down.

“Only in private, I promise. But I like how it sounds, if you’re alright with it as a nickname?” he nods; that his Sky has come up with a nickname for him already that feels that intimate - he knows how conservative the Japanese are about the use of personal names, and nicknames - is more affirmation for his stupid brain that his Sky really means everything that’s happened today. “Now. We should really finish off making the bento so we both have something to eat in the morning and for lunch. And think about dinner. We’ll have to get you pots and pans tomorrow, and cooking utensils.”

* * *

his Tsuna has fallen asleep against him - his Sky’s tiny snores are adorable - and he leans forward just enough to close the lid of his laptop. as he does so, the time registers, and he frowns; they hadn’t said anything to Nana about Tsuna staying over when they left her house, and yet it's almost 11pm and there’s been no phone call. he knows his Sky has a cell phone and it’s charged; it had found its way onto the table next to his laptop hours ago, and he can see it's on.

he’d thought there was something wrong with Nana before, but this only confirms it for him, and more than explains why Tsuna had asked him to keep an eye out for materials for him. he probably should wake Tsuna, and get him to remove some of his clothes - the thought makes his cheeks heat - but he doesn’t want his Sky to decide to leave, so he just eases them both down to lie flat on the futon, and tugs the whole pile of blankets over both of them, and spoons around his Tsuna.

(he will keep his Sky _safe_ and give him somewhere to be himself, he decides. snarky, bold Tsuna had been a surprise earlier, but a very pleasant one that he wants to see more of.)

* * *

he blinks, and wonders for a minute why the blankets are warm; he’s never this warm waking up.

“Morning, Haya. Did you sleep well?” he squeaks. that’s his Sky, in his apartment, using a nickname, and the whole of yesterday comes rushing back, and his cheeks go scarlet. “I know I did. You were deliciously warm, and I slept through the night for the first time in _weeks_.” he can smell food, and he’s still a little bit confused.

“I slept well, Juu-Tsuna.” he gets a sweet, beaming smile for correcting himself on the title. _oh_ , that’s _adorable_ , and he's _melting_.

“Good. Tea, coffee, or water, Haya? I’ve got breakfast _mostly_ put together and we don’t have to be at school for another hour and a half.” his Tsuna, making breakfast, in his kitchen? he scrambles out of the blankets and doesn’t even shiver - for once the heater is going full-blast in the morning - and joins his Sky in the kitchen.

breakfast is delicious, and the coffee is perfect, and they walk out the door together.

* * *

He’s a little bit confused. His old man had sat him down this morning, and gone through several Flame control exercises with him _and_ had explained about secondary Flames, and he’s not entirely sure _why_ he’d concentrated on ‘not aggravating Clouds unless one wants to end up in pain’; he knows not to annoy Hibari-senpai! He’d learned that lesson before he’d even arrived at Nami-chuu!

And now Tsuna is with Gokudera as he’s leaving the house. Normally he and Gokudera don’t meet up with Tsuna until they’re a _lot_ closer to school than this, and the two things _have_ to be connected. Add in that Tsuna successfully distracts him before he can insinuate himself in-between the two of them so he can sling arms over both of them, and he’s _curious_. Really, _really_ curious. Something’s shifted on him, and he wants to know _what_.

But Tsuna determinedly babbles about an American TV show all the way to Nami-chuu, and he can’t get a word in edge-ways for once, and now he really _knows_ something is different. The Kid isn’t stalking them, Tsuna isn’t panicking, and Gokudera is neither smoking nor hissing at him like an annoyed cat.

“Crowding will not be tolerated.” Are they at the school gates already? They must be, for Hibari-senpai to have found them.

“We’re not, and you know it, Hibari-san.” What. What?

“Hn. You will explain yourself, little animal.”

“It’s one of those,” Tsuna makes a gesture that the Prefect seems to understand, “- things, Hibari-san. Can we at least go to the Reception Room, please?” But- _what?!_

“Hn.” Hibari-senpai makes a gesture of his own, and two of his Committee members appear, taking up position by the school entrance, and turns sharply. Hibari-senpai? Listening to Tsuna? Tsuna being calm and not panicking? **_What?!_**

“Classroom, baseball-herbivore.” He wants to argue with the order, but his old man had just warned him about Clouds, and his Sky isn’t anxious about what's going on, so he complies, but he’s now even _more_ curious.

Just _what_ is going on? It seems impossible!


	5. Chapter 5

He pulls the little animal into his office, the bomb-herbivore still trailing obediently - and maybe territorially? - after.

“The false carnivore is missing. You were in the wrong den last night. Explain, little animal.” He knows there is a story here. The little animal is acting different, too.

“Reborn said something _unacceptable_. I used the technique he tried to have me use on the Monkey King on _him_. Dino-nii’s taken him back to Italy so he can be appropriately disciplined.”

He is so shocked he knows his eyes have widened. “Wao.” Maybe the little animal will be worth having as his Sky, after all.

“And I think that was a far better ‘den’ for me to be in, Hibari-san. I had a proper breakfast, I have a complete bento, and I slept for the whole night for the first time since the Ring Battles.” He will definitely have to observe his little animal far more carefully, as he is definitely trying to shed the herbivorous skin he had previously insisted on wearing. Then the words register, and he hisses. Little animals are supposed to be cared for by their parents, not neglected, and he will have to set some of his underlings to observing I-Pin. He might object to his carnivore-uncle’s appearances in Namimori, but he had agreed to his apprentice’s presence, and he has responsibilities to her.

The bomb-herbivore is being very quiet, his Flames far calmer than they normally are, and he can ‘taste’ more than just the Flames the teen shares with his carnivore-uncle. It seems the herbivore has Cloud Flames, too. What has he claimed?

His Sky looks at him with an almost cheeky smile. “And no, Hibari-san, I will _not_ use the same technique on your uncle unless he’s causing actual harm rather than just being irritating.” The smile disappears then, and the little animal looks almost worried, and looks back at the Storm-Cloud herbivore. “I’m glad you dragged us here, actually. I have a request.”

“Hn?” He raises an eyebrow in query.

“I need permission for Haya to take over one of the science labs. He’s been making his explosives in a badly-ventilated _bedroom_.” The bomb-herbivore goes pink and his Flames _very_ Cloudy, but right now he is more interested in the potential threat to his territory. “I’ve already discussed his ‘discipline’ with him,” Another flush. “- so he doesn’t need biting to death, but there does need to be an alternative put in place.” Ah, so it is the little animal that is the bomb-herbivore’s territory.

“Hn. Agreed.” He thinks for a minute, pulls out the room assignments, and checks the chemistry labs. Opening the key drawer of his desk, he pulls out one key and tosses it forward. It is the bomb-herbivore who steps forward and catches it. “Lab 3. I will collect staff keys. Keep it locked, and do not destroy it. Damage my school and I will bite you both to death. Committee members and Kusakabe will be picking your things up after school. He will touch nothing but your supplies under pain of biting.”

“They’re in the bedroom in black plastic cases. Three. I know exactly where they are and exactly what’s in that apartment, Hibari Kyōya. If anything is missing on your own head be it.” Wao. Omnivore has teeth. “And I need to talk to Kusakabe-san, please. It’s an administrative matter.”

“Hn. Lunchtime, Omnivore.” The two of them should be getting to class. “Here. A pass.”

“Thank you, Hibari-senpai.” Hn. Interesting. He likes this version of the little animal.

* * *

he feels a little bit self-conscious following Tsuna back towards their classroom; his Sky using what he’d said was a private nickname in front of the demon prefect had made him squirm until he’d realised that Hibari was his Sky’s, and concerned enough about him that he’d known where his Sky was sleeping and had considered intervening until he’d realised his Sky was safer and happier where he was. (which is more than Nana had. it’s oddly comforting to know that someone else is watching to keep Tsuna safe.) still… “Tsuna?”

“Yes, Hayato?”

“I- I’m not sure I want you to call me Haya in front of the baseball-idiot yet.” his Sky tilts his head.

“I wasn’t planning to, Haya. Hibari-senpai, well, you heard him? He watches, constantly, and he keeps secrets, and I have to consider him as not-people where privacy is concerned, because otherwise I’d never be private-private. But he doesn’t share the secrets he finds, and he’s always bitten my bullies, even before Reborn arrived.” his Sky pauses. “Sorry. I’m not explaining it very well. Just - he’s safe, as long as you obey his rules, Haya. And it’s not that he’s watching all the time or stalking, just using his Flames, I think.”

“I understand.” his Sky’s slightly incoherent babble is a damning indictment of Reborn’s tutoring skills. it’s quite clear that he doesn’t have the right words to describe what is an entirely normal subset of Cloud/Mist behaviour. both Flame-types claim territories and use their Flames to manage them, and the Prefect is an incredibly strong Misty-Cloud. “I’m actually a little sheepish that I hadn’t noticed his behaviour before you mentioned it, Tsuna. Hopefully Cavallone will help him get that under his conscious control so he doesn’t slip into some of the really bad habits his Flame-types can exhibit.”

“Reborn’s omitted a lot from his tutoring, hasn’t he.” his Sky sighs. “Can you start helping me to learn what I need to know, Haya?” he knows he’s blushing again, but there’s the classroom door, and he needs to look like “Gokudera-kun”, not his Tsuna’s Haya.

“Of course! Anything, Juudaime!” he hates the title now as much as he once loved it, but he’s already opening the door, and he’s not ready for anyone to know about any of this yet.

“Gokudera-kun.” his Sky’s tone is gently chiding and affectionate and takes some of the sting out of the name. he slides the hall pass onto Nezu’s desk as they pass it.

“You’re _late_. Though I should have expected that from a delinquent and _Dame-Tsuna_.” he turns, and one of his sticks of dynamite slides into his hand with a growl. Tsuna intercepts the hand and tows him through the room to their seats, ignoring the teacher who had dismissed their pass from Hibari. “Dame-Tsuna who got fifteen percent on Friday’s homework.”

He _snarls_. He’d worked through that homework with Tsuna, and he’d graded it, and it should have got a mark in the sixties. That is _it_! “I’m leaving. Don’t stop me, Juudaime.” The title is half mask, half him stepping into his hitman self.

“Hibari-san, Hayato. No improvisation until we’ve discussed it.” He barely hears the words; his Sky had murmured them, and he thinks they were as much carried on his Sky’s Flames as spoken aloud.

He storms out of the classroom, leaving the baseball-idiot to guard their Sky, and heads back to the Reception Room. Either the demon Prefect will listen to him, or he’ll try to bite him to death for being out of class, and either will work, and as the Prefect is Cloudy and Active, the fight would be _glorious_.

“Hibari! I have something to _discuss_ with you!” The tonfa slide into the Prefect’s hands.

“Make it fast, herbivore, and make it good, or I will bite you to death.” He grins, and eases his secondary weapons from their hidden sheathes.

“Nezu is faking grades. Homework I graded at sixty-percent and saved to my phone was returned with a score of _fifteen_ percent. Either he’s removed from the school, or he dies, and I don’t care which at this point.”

He dodges the tonfa blow, and allows his hyperactive Flames to lick along the blades of his long-bladed push-daggers. “On three conditions, bomb-herbivore. The evidence to Kusakabe, a proper fight _every_ week, for a month, and no damage to my territory when you cull that… _insect_ from the herd.” The Flames coating his blades are more purple than red, but he barely has time to register their colour or the permission to kill Nezu, because Hibari responds to the Flames with a ‘Wao’, and his tonfa catch fire _too_.

With Reborn out of town, and the confirmation Hibari is Active and this is his territory, he has no reason to hold back, and every reason to give the Cloud the fight that he is demanding. “Done. Do I need to hold back to avoid damaging the school?”

“Hn.” A tonfa connects with the wall, cracking it, but it knits back together almost instantaneously, and he _grins_.

The running battle through the school, to which all of the students and teachers are suspiciously oblivious, does _wonders_ for his mood, and his Flames, and allows him a far better gauge of the Prefect’s skills. He has versatility on his side; Hibari has a definite preference for his Cloud Flames, and given their impossible strength, he’s not surprised. He’s also not ashamed to find himself backed against a corner of the fence on the roof, his daggers caught in the chain-link near his shins; his skills run more to sneak attacks and pre-prepared battle grounds than spontaneous contact fights.

“Carnivore.” He _preens_ at the compliment. “You’ve been holding back.”

“I was called to attend a _Civilian_ Sky in a _Civilian_ school, Hibari. What would have happened if I’d presented myself to the ‘herd’ as a blooded and Named _Assassin_?” The Cloud allows him the liberty of dropping the suffix; or at least, there’s no follow up blow, though his eyes narrow.

“Are you okay, Hayato?!” The question comes from the direction of the roof’s door.

“Your wildcat is fine, little animal.” Hibari had already stepped back, out of his personal space, tonfa vanishing back into the older teen’s Flames. “Take him back to his den.”

“I can’t, Hibari-senpai. We have things to buy to make his den habitable. Thank you for the day off, though; I don’t want Haya near Nezu again today. I’ll make sure he’s calm before we go shopping.” His Sky grabs his daggers in one hand and puts the other arm around his back, leading him back down the stairwell and out of the school.

“I suspect Yamamoto’s going to interrogate us in the morning, Haya. And _thank you_ for not killing Nezu in front of the rest of the class; even if I hate most of them, his death would have traumatised them and been hard to cover up.” He _likes_ the more practically-minded Tsuna that has shown up in the last twenty or so hours. “And an accident would be best, I think.”

“Accident it is, Tsuna!” He takes his daggers and slides them carefully back into their sheathes, before slipping reluctantly out of the curve of Tsuna’s arm, falling out of his hitman mindset as they get further away from both Nezu’s threat and Hibari’s challenge.

he texts Kusakabe the picture of Tsuna’s recent homework, and a few other sheets he has images of that he thinks Nezu might have fixed.

his Sky grabs his hand then and all but drags him out of the school gates. “Now, let’s get you some coffee at a quiet cafe and sit for a bit. Then we have things to buy. Hibari-san will send men to collect the cases, so we can order you the complete new bedroom I threatened you with last night, and have it delivered tonight.” he’s still squirming a little bit about the thought of other people having access to his space, but he’d heard Tsuna’s soft threat to Hibari, and it had set the butterflies fluttering in his belly again. The fact that Tsuna had threatened his own Cloud Guardian for him makes all of his instincts _purr_ in pleasure. and then he squeaks, because his Sky is still dragging him determinedly. “Department store first, then we’ll go and buy something fun, too. Like more manga, or music.”

he wants to protest, but his Sky is happy and confident and determined, his Will set on taking care of him, and he knows all too well how strong his Sky’s Will is. (the changes that even a day free of Reborn makes are startling, and he might have to appeal to the Ninth to tame his Sky’s tutor a little; this Tsuna is Tsuna as he _should_ be, and from what he can see is far more likely to willingly become Decimo. he’s starting to understand and tolerate things the Underworld makes necessary after all this time, and is about to spend the Vongola’s money in entirely appropriate ways.)

* * *

Haru catches sight of her husband-to-be in the shopping district, and follows him without thinking about it. It takes Haru a whole block to realise that rather than Gokudera trailing Tsuna-san, the two of them are walking hand in hand and Haru is curious now! Especially since this is a Monday and Haru’s school is only out because it’s their Founder’s Day. What is her Tsuna-san doing skipping school with that _delinquent_?!

Haru follows them right into the department store, eyes widening at the amount of money her Tsuna-san withdraws from the cash-point, and the hairs on the back of Haru’s neck prickle as the two boys make for one of the upper floors of the store. What is going on? Haru is _curious_! Haru can’t join them in the elevator, not if Haru wants to keep watching them discreetly so she can work out what’s going on. (Haru likes secret missions, desu, and this will be a fun secret mission! Maybe Haru was a cat in a former life?) But Haru does hear which button Tsuna-san has Gokudera press - the furniture floor - so the stairs it is.

Haru needs to work on her stamina. But Haru is lucky; the elevator has stopped on each of the floors in-between, and that means Haru gets to see her Tsuna-san step out of the elevator with Gokudera who is blushing, and Haru’s yaoi senses are tingling, but that can’t be right! Can it? Oooh. Haru hopes Haru’s senses are right! Or does she? This is her Tsuna-san! Haru is going to marry Tsuna-san! But Haru would also like seeing her Tsuna-san kissing Gokudera. Haru is torn, desu!

Tsuna-san leads his delinquent into the bedroom department, and Haru’s face heats as Haru’s mind places Gokudera and Tsuna-san’s faces into some of the yaoi scenes Haru’s read, and Haru is _so_ a fujoshi. And Tsuna-san makes it worse, because Gokudera and Tsuna-san start to test the beds, and both Tsuna-san _and_ Gokudera lay on the mattresses and against headboards. Together! At the same time! Haru feels dizzy, desu. Did someone turn up the heating in here?

She slides down the wall, and watches Tsuna-san and Gokudera, and Haru is going to have to accept that Gokudera beat her to Tsuna-san. At least Tsuna-san and Gokudera will make good imagination fodder for Haru, desu!

Haru can’t resist following her new ship to see where they go next, and Haru needs her handkerchief, because Haru has a nosebleed, desu. Tsuna-san had asked Gokudera if he needed a new tongue stud, and if he knew where to buy them, and that means Gokudera has a tongue-piercing, and that Tsuna-san knows Gokudera has a tongue piercing, and Haru thinks a nosebleed is an _entirely_ reasonable response to the implications of that, desu!

Haru almost misses where they head to next, but Haru is glad that Haru doesn’t, because they’re being adorably domestic, desu! Tsuna-san keeps loading new linens into Gokudera’s arms, and the delinquent is blushing and protesting and it’s very cute, and Haru is going to have to be good, so Haru can make a home visit, desu!

Tsuna-san pays for the pile of linens, and the cashier takes the pile, and Tsuna-san is dragging a mildly protesting Gokudera down the stairs to the next department, and Haru is enjoying this, desu! Haru thinks Tsuna-san and Gokudera are setting up home together, desu. They’ve bought bedroom furniture and all the household linens, and now Tsuna-san is loading expensive kitchen equipment into a trolley, desu! Haru is shocked, desu! Do either of them know how to cook? Maybe she can ask for lessons, desu!

Haru spends the rest of the afternoon trailing Haru’s new ship through the Department store, and Tsuna-san is rich and is trying to spoil Gokudera-kun, and every time Gokudera tries to protest, Tsuna-san says the same thing Haru can’t quite hear, and Gokudera deflates, and Tsuna-san smiles. And that smile, desu! If it was aimed at Haru, Haru would never get any work done ever again, desu!

Haru blushes the hardest when Tsuna-san and Gokudera reach the clothing floors, and Tsuna-san loads _underwear_ into Gokudera’s arms along with other things. Haru is going to be scarlet for days, desu! The images in Haru’s head would make a doujinka blush, desu! This is as bad as knowing Gokudera has a tongue piercing, desu! And now Gokudera is looking at Tsuna-san and speaking, and Tsuna-san pulls clothes off of racks and shelves, and calls over an assistant to ferry things back to the counters. Some things are put back, but most are obviously for Gokudera and it looks like Gokudera is picking a new wardrobe for Tsuna-san! Haru didn't know Gokudera likes fashion desu! Maybe it's a talk point desu?

Haru follows her new ship through the rest of the department store and a stop at a small specialty jewelry store down a side-alley and then all the way to Takesushi, and oops, Haru’s being a stalker, desu. Haru probably shouldn’t stalk Haru’s new ship, even if they _are_ pretty and giving Haru lots of ship fodder.

* * *

“Can we have the katsudon, again, Tsuyoshi-san? Hayato’s kitchen won’t be fit to make a proper meal until tomorrow at the earliest.” He smiles at his son’s Sky, who feels even more cheerful and Sky-like this afternoon than he had yesterday.

“And you can have the same booth, as well, Tsunayoshi-kun. Would you like chuutoro and tea, as well?”

“Yes, please, Tsuyoshi-san. And it’s Tsuna, please. If I’m Takeshi-kun’s Sky, doesn’t that sort of make us family?” He approves of the changes the last thirty hours seem to have made in his son’s Sky. “Or at least that’s how Hayato explained things to me. Why couldn’t Reborn have explained things the way you did, Haya?” He’s rather sure he isn’t supposed to have heard that last sentence, but with his son’s Sky in Takesushi again, he’s amplifying his senses so he can ‘listen’ for any intruders, and deal with them before they get to the boys. The nickname is cute, and implies that his assumptions yesterday had been fairly accurate.

“Then Tsuna-kun it is.” He shoos the boys back to their booth, and reaches for the tea supplies, but his hand pauses mid-movement when a semi-Active Lightning, focused on the boys, steps into the area he’s monitoring. She’s fixated, but not Tsuna-kun’s Lightning Guardian, and he palms a knife and steps outside. The girl is crouching in the bushes, and he sighs. “Miura-chan,” the girl squeaks a ‘hahi!’, and he uses his Flames to stop her trying to run, “- inside. It appears I need to have a talk with you, as no-one else has.”

He seats her on the stool at the end of the restaurant counter, and uses his Flames to muffle their conversation while he prepares the boys’ food. “Haru didn’t mean to be creepy, desu. Haru is sorry, Yamamoto-san?”

“Did you nearly die around Tsunayoshi-kun, Miura-chan?” The girl squeaks, and he takes that as a confirmation. “And afterwards some things became harder, and some became easier, and Tsunayoshi-kun makes it easy to focus? And maybe you lose track of other things when he’s around?”

“How did Yamamoto-san know? Haru just lost the whole afternoon watching Tsuna-san and Gokudera…kun buy the things to set up a home, desu.” What could make Miura blush like that?

“It’s a very long story, Miura-chan. Look at the menu and pick something to eat, and I’ll try and explain. At it’s simplest - and this is a _very_ simple and inaccurate analogy, Miura-chan - Tsunayoshi-kun is a magnet, and is trying to attract six people who will help him balance and manage the thing that makes him a magnet. You don’t quite fit the slot you’re attracted to, unfortunately. There are more people like Tsunayoshi-kun out there, and you’ll find one you fit with eventually, _if_ you want to.” He leaves the girl to chew over that analogy, and carries the tea through to the boys’ booth.

“Thank you, Tsuyoshi-san.”

“It’ll take me a little while to prepare the katsudon, Tsuna-kun. I’m having a discussion with the Lightning your tutor failed to arrange instruction for.” The little Sky tilts his head, and there’s a faint orange glow in his eyes.

“Is she alright?”

“She’s a Lightning, and there are mitigation strategies someone needs to teach her, if she’s not to become like the Lightning who was here for the Ring Battles. I suspect Gokudera-kun can explain the issue to you, Tsuna-kun.” He puts the tea tray down on the table, with the same tea-pot from yesterday, and the Storm is already murmuring in Tsuna-kun’s ear.

Miura is still sat on her stool when he returns to the main body of the restaurant, staring off into mid-air. “So what do I need to know, Yamamoto-san?”

He holds up a hand covered in Rain Flames, with their soft blue Flame, and then switches to the purple of his Secondary. “There are seven Flames in the set. Yours, when you’ve worked with it a bit longer, will be green. Think of those Flames as Electricity. Right now, your body is making use of them internally, and that’s the reason you’re having issues concentrating.”

“Haru thinks she understands, desu. The brain and nerves run on electricity, and Haru’s body has had an upgrade, and Haru’s brain hasn’t adjusted?”

“Close enough, Miura-chan. I’m not a Lightning, so I’m not sure what it ‘feels’ like, but I’ve seen others develop your Flame-type. Tsunayoshi-kun is easy for you to focus on because his Flame-type balances things for those he claims as his.” He slices the tuna for the boys carefully. “Have you figured out what you want to eat?”

“Haru would like some kitsune-udon, please, Yamamoto-san.” He hands her a cup of tea and she takes a sip. “So how does Haru avoid being creepy, desu?”

“My son is showing signs of a Lightning-tertiary, and I’m waiting for a reply from an old friend. When it arrives, you would be welcome to sit in on the lessons. For now, I’d suggest setting alarms to remind you of tasks, Miura-chan.”

“Hey, you there, Old Man?” And a Mist Secondary, he adds to himself. Eiko would have been a Mist if her Flames had Activated, and he needs to write a second letter. He refuses to let Takeshi to succumb to the Vongola prejudices about his minor Flames.

“Good day at school, Takeshi?” Miura sips at her tea and resumes staring off into mid air.

“Not really, Dad. Things were weird, and Tsuna and Gokudera got pulled off by Hibari. Then they spent about two minutes in class before running off again. Haven’t seen them since. I’m a bit worried, honestly. Gokudera I can understand, but it’s not like Tsuna to run off like that. And he was acting weird before, too. Did you know he showed up _with_ Gokudera this morning? Outside the shop? And he stood up to Hibari. No panic, no shrieking… and no Kid, either.” His silly son is such a good Guardian, despite being, well, silly. Noticing all that would be hard for most twice his age.

“It’s part of why I warned you about not aggravating Clouds and Cloudy-types, Takeshi. Something happened between Tsuna-kun and Reborn yesterday, involving Gokudera-kun, and Gokudera-kun has become more Cloudy as a result.” He lets himself smile. “You might want to take this tray -” he lifts the tray with the otoro and the katsudon onto the counter; it had been simple enough to add his son’s favourite post-school snack to it, “- to the private booth in the back. And let the two of them set the boundaries of what they’re willing to talk about.” His son perks up, and he shakes his head in amusement. He’d never been a Guardian, but the role is serving his ridiculous boy well. “Oh, and Takeshi?”

Takeshi has his hand almost on the door to the booth when he pauses and turns back. “Yeah, Dad?”

“Maybe you should drop the oblivious act. It might just make your Sky a bit more comfortable with discussing things around you.”

“Sure thing.” His son turns back and slides the door open. “Yo. Tsuna. Gokudera. You two okay?” The door slides shut again.

He returns to chopping fish for the other customers’ orders, and looks at his knife on the next lift, turning it this way and that. Tsuna-kun had said something about Gokudera-kun’s kitchen and using it. Maybe he should get them a nice set of knives, and give them a few lessons on using and maintaining them. Yes. That will do.


	6. Chapter 6

the door to the booth opens, and that’s Tsuyoshi with the food, and he’s _starving_! but then he hears a voice that isn’t Tsuyoshi’s, and looks up, and he panics; it’s the baseball-idiot and he’s still curling around his Tsuna and this is just… why now?! he isn’t ready for this! he knows he’s blushing.

“We’re all right. Thank you Takeshi-kun.” his Sky sits up and helps his Rain with the food tray. “I hope we didn’t worry you too much with what happened earlier.”

“What _did_ happen, Tsuna?” he glares at the baseball-idiot who twitches slightly and that’s new. normally the idiot ignores even blatant attempts at correction. “Tsuna…kun?” that’s a bit better, and so he relaxes, and starts eating his rice bowl.

Tsuna leans back against him, and he soaks in the Flames radiating at him. “It started yesterday, Takeshi-kun. Things happened, and Dino-nii has taken Reborn back to Italy for a week or so, I think. After that, I decided to put some things right that Reborn had neglected.” he’s Flame-drunk. or at least Flame-tipsy. there’s no other explanation for why he’s not more than nervous that the baseball-idiot is here and seeing him curled around their Sky. “The care-and-feeding of Hayato was one of the things that was being neglected.” his cheeks heat, and he barely resists the temptation to bury his head in Tsuna’s hair. “And I’ve not been getting enough food either, Takeshi-kun.” his Sky pauses, and tilts his head thoughtfully. "Given how hard Reborn trained me to face Xanxus, the best comparison is probably the amount of food you get to eat in baseball season when you’re training hard, speaking of which...?”

his Sky takes his own rice bowl and digs in. “I drink more than a gallon of milk a week, and Dad makes me lots of things like the katsudon and the nigiri that you’re eating. And well -” the Rain takes his own bowl from the tray. “- I get breakfast, a bento for lunch, a snack now, and a proper meal later.” the baseball-idiot’s snack was at _least_ as much food as he and Tsuna had eaten for a main meal last night and were eating now, as their dinner.

“And that probably explains part of why you’re ten inches taller than me, Takeshi-kun.” Tsuna fishes a piece of pork out of his katsudon, but rather than pop it in his mouth, kept ranting. “You saw my sperm-donor during the Ring Battles! He’s as tall as Xanxus! Yet I’m barely as tall as Kaa-san is. And -” he gives into the urge to cut Tsuna off, and pops the piece of pork into his Sky’s mouth. Tsuna shuts his mouth and chews.

“Mhmm. Dad told me that I needed to eat more food when he showed me Shigure Soen Ryuu, and helped me wake my Flames up. He’s still got me on baseball season-type meals because I lost weight during the Ring Battles fighting Squalo-senpai.” he stares at the idiot, mouth gaping open. what? what happened to the ‘maa’ and the ‘I don’t understand’? Takeshi sees his look, and rubs the back of his head, and that’s a more familiar gesture. “I thought treating it as a game would help Tsuna-kun be less scared. But Dad said that the oblivious act was just making you worry about me.” the baseball-idiot grins. “I’d actually met Belphegor and Mammon, uh, four years ago? Major league baseball would have kept me out of the Underworld, mostly, and off Squalo-senpai’s radar, but it was one of the few things that would.”

“You _knew_?!” his Tsuna has the same look on his face.

“Maa, maa, Tsuna-kun. You really think my old man would have let me fight without knowing _everything_?”

“Now you’ve said it out loud, no.” he agrees with his Sky. Yamamoto Tsuyoshi is a good father, and now that Tsuna had acknowledged that he is the baseball-idiot’s Sky to the man, and that that makes them family (it had been a conversation they’d had last night about the implications of Flame-bonds, over their dinner), Tsuyoshi is going to gently parent them as much as they allow him to, given their complete lack of competent-and-responsible adults. the katsudon is _significantly_ richer than any he’d eaten elsewhere, so he suspects that the parenting has already started.

“So what else got missed, Tsuna-kun? Other than the care-and-feeding of Tsuna-and-Hayato, I mean.” he gives in and buries his head in Tsuna’s hair, groaning.

“All sorts of things.” the baseball-idiot makes a carry-on gesture. “All he’s taught me to do is fight, Takeshi-kun. No Italian, or…” his Sky trails off, and then pokes him in the side. “- what languages _do_ I need to be able to speak, Hayato? Italian doesn’t ‘feel’ quite right to my intuition.”

he unburies his head from his Sky’s hair. “Actual Sicilian and Sicilian Italian, probably. If you try and talk like Reborn - he’s got a Tuscan academic’s accent - you’re going to put everyone’s backs up, Tsu.” The baseball idiot looks confused, and he fights the urge to grin and then fails. “For the Tuscan and Sicilian Italian, think Osaka-ben and regular Japanese, but then add in there being a comparatively recent history of actual armed conflict and blood feuds. There’s a lot of historic tension. Italy wasn’t actually a _country_ until the late nineteenth century, and it took force to make it one country.” which is all history Reborn should have explained to Tsuna, at least, but hasn’t. “And that simmering conflict was part of the how and why Primo put together the Vongola, because it wasn’t the rich and the powerful that suffered, it was everyone else. Still is everyone else, at least south of Naples; most of the money and the industry’s in the north of the country. A _good_ Family’s territory tends to be peaceful and prosperous and well-fed, and reasonably safe.” he snags another nigiri, with his fingers this time, and slumps further against his Tsuna.

“Not that I’m not enjoying the cute, Tsuna-kun, but you might want to moderate your Flames a little, they’re making even me feel tipsy, and I’m _used_ to Dad’s Flames.”

“Hiiieee? I’m doing what?” Takeshi facepalms. and apparently the shriek his Tsuna uses is just an exclamation of surprise, because that one isn’t loud. huh.

“... I see what you mean about Reborn’s lack-of-ability to teach everything you need to know, Tsuna-kun.” Takeshi looks thoughtful, and he thinks that’s the _weirdest_ expression on the baseball-idiot’s face. “I need to talk to Dad. I think he’s realised that things aren’t quite right and decided _something_ , but I’m not sure _what_. Anyway. Tsuna-kun, have you got that Ring? I can show you how to get started on the control exercise Dad showed me, if you have.”

he wears the Storm Ring all of the time, but he’s not sure as to whether his Tsuna wears his at all; his Sky had been really uncomfortable with what it represents when pickaxe-for-brains forced it on him. his Tsuna fishes it out from under his shirt. it’s on a long enough chain that it isn’t visible in their school uniform. “You’ll need to put it on, Tsu.”

“Mhmm. Like that nickname, Haya.” and fuck, the baseball idiot is right, this is like being _completely_ drunk. “An’ I decided I would be Decimo if it meant I could -” his Tsu waves his hands expansively, and he giggles and lets himself slide flat on the bench, head in his Tsu’s lap, “- so puttin’ it on s’okay. Tellin’ my sperm-donor t’take a long walk off a short plank, though. Or gettin’ Jii-san t’do it if he wants me t’do heir-stuff.”

the pressure eases significantly when his Tsu puts the Ring on. he’s still drunk though. just drunk and out in cold air, rather than still drinking. “Prob’ly should go ask your otou-san before we practise Flame-control exercises, Yakyuu-baka. Not sure s’good idea for me at least. Don’ wanna accidentally disintegrate a roof support.”

Takeshi’s eyes widen. “You two are way too Flame-drunk to work with control right now. I’ll be right back.” the baseball-idiot leaves the booth, closing the door quickly behind him. he can hear him talking, and Tsuyoshi saying something back, and then both Rains are entering the booth.

Tsuyoshi laughs when he sees the two of them, and then quickly becomes more serious. “There’s no-one else in the restaurant right now. I think you should probably put your own Ring on, Takeshi-kun, and then if you’re amenable, Tsuna-kun, we’ll drive you and Hayato-kun back to his apartment. The only thing you can do about being Flame Drunk is either put you both in imminent peril, or allow you to sleep it off. There isn’t much in between.”

“Tha’ works.” hands ruffle his hair, and he stares blankly at the ceiling. “Not sure I c’n stand up, Tsuyoshi-san.” the chef laughs again.

“We’ll carry you out to my car, Tsuna-kun. Is Hayato-kun still living in the same place?” his Tsu nods, and the hands start to scritch and he’s purring again, and the baseball-idiot looks confused. “I’m going to come around and pick you up Hayato-kun. Then I’ll put you over my shoulders, and Takeshi’ll carry Tsuna-kun, and knowing Takeshi, it’ll be princess-style.”

“Daaaaad.”

“You’re at least a bit Flame Drunk yourself, Takeshi.”

he suddenly remembers why they need to be home. “Gettin’ furniture d’liv’red, Tsuyoshi-san, an’ assembled. Someone needs t’stay.” Tsuyoshi laughs as he’s picked up.

“Takeshi and I will stay.” that sounds okay, and he says so. the last thing he sees is the Rain Guardian picking up his Tsu. princess-style.

* * *

“What happened to the little animal, Yamamoto-san?” Kusakabe’s voice almost makes him drop Tsuna, and it’s only his precious, sleeping cargo and his dad’s presence that stop him panicking because Kusakabe means Hibari, and he knows that Hibari won’t be happy. Why he won’t be happy, he’s not quite sure? Hibari is one of the other Guardians, and despite Dino’s blandishments definitely Tsuna’s, so it might be on missing out on a relaxed, cute Tsuna, radiating Sky Flames?

“His tutor appears to be incompetent, I think.” The second-in-command of the Committee frowns.

“The chairman’s little animal doesn’t have a registered home tutor.” Blue Flames coat one of his dad’s hands, the one not steadying Hayato, and he watches the flicker of recognition in Kusakabe’s eyes. “Ah.” The older teen’s eyes flick towards the roof. “It’s a Flame issue. I’ll mark them absent for tomorrow; the wildcat’s supplies have been removed to the school, and as the furniture was damaged, they’ve been removed for disposal.”

“Haha, What’s left in there? They mentioned having furniture delivered later, so Dad and I are staying to let the delivery and assembly guys in.” he’s quiet, so he doesn’t wake his Sky.

“There’s still a futon and cushions, a low table, and supplies in the kitchen, but the bedroom is bare, Yamamoto-kun.” Kusakabe bows to his father, and slips back into the apartment, and he hears the jingle of keys being placed on the low table. “I will retrieve the Chairman.”

“Hah, Hibari-senpai’s here? I’m sure Tsuna would say hi if he wasn’t asleep. Maybe Hibari-senpai would like to come see him? Our Sky’s being awfully cute right now, and I know he likes cute things.” He grins at the taller teen, who shakes his head.

“The window in the bedroom is open to air the room out.” That isn’t an answer, except he’s seen Hibari-senpai drop from the school roof, and jump up onto the flat roof of the changing rooms for the swimming pool, so coming in through the window isn’t out of the question.

“Okay, then. I’ll be quiet. I can be quiet. I can be _very_ quiet.” His father laughs at his babbling.

“I should get these three inside and laid down, Kusakabe-kun. Thank you.” His father tuts softly when he sees the bare inside of the apartment, and sighs.

“It will be interesting to see what the boys have bought. Miura-chan was babbling about them buying the things to set up home earlier.” His dad nudges the blankets off the futon, and then carefully puts Hayato down, and eases him back against the wall. “Put Tsuna down in front of Hayato, Takeshi, then tuck the blankets in around them. They’re both far too thin to stay warm without them.” He’d noticed that, carrying his Sky. Even through the thick hoodie he could feel the other boy’s ribs and hips. What is Nana-san _doing_ , to let her son get this thin? Tsuna had been about to say something when Hayato had popped a piece of pork into his mouth. And now he’s thought about it, neither Hayato nor Tsuna’s bento had ever been anything special; his Sky’s box had looked more suited to Lambo than to a Tsuna who was using his Flames, and he’d seen Reborn and Lambo steal Tsuna’s breakfast before, so how little is his Sky getting to eat and why hadn’t he noticed?!

“Daaad, did I miss somethin’?” Oh, is he slurring a bit? Hayato has buried his head in Tsuna’s hair and pulled him back to rest against his chest, and it’s adorable and cute, and he could just sit and watch them sleep for _hours_.

“I taught you better, Takeshi. You’re being very Electric, for someone for whom it’s only a tertiary.” He whines, but puts the slightly obsessive bit of his nature back in its mental box. It’s hard; with Tsuna relaxed and asleep, his Sky’s Flames are awfully easy to vanish into. “That’s better. I’m hoping that I get a response to my letter about training and mitigation strategies soon; there’s another who needs them, too. As to your question, yes and no. This is the relaxed version of your Sky, Takeshi. Now I’ve seen him like this, it’s obvious the Arcobaleno is terrifying him, and keeping him constantly panicking, which would have concealed many of the warning signs. Now. You’re Flame-drunk as well, so take a seat at the foot of the bed, and see if you can nap while I put dinner and some bento together for them, so they have something to eat, later.”

He sort of wants to spoon around Hayato, or snuggle up on the other side of Tsuna, but he’s trying to be good, and it’s only a single futon, so he takes his Dad’s suggestion and leans against the wall and basks in the Flames suffusing the apartment.

“Wao.” The Flames have him so sleepy now - Tsuna’s sleepiness, he thinks, muzzily - that he doesn’t react to the Cloud Guardian’s presence, or the quiet conversation Hibari’s having with his father, and slips into sleep.

* * *

“Wao.” The young Cloud hasn’t snuck up on him, for all he moves quietly.

“Don’t wake them, Kyōya-kun. They all need their sleep, and I’ll have Takeshi bring you a bento in the morning if you let them be.” Kyōya has been in and out of his restaurant since he’d first been able to toddle, first with his mother, Kasumi, and then on his own, and had earned the right to call him Kyōya-kun, in private, with Shigure Kintoki’s blade. “I’m going to make some dinner. Would you like a snack?”

“Is there any hamburger-steak, Tsuyoshi-san? The small animal likes it even more than the katsudon you’ve been feeding them.” He smiles; he’d known that it’s Kyōya’s favourite, but the Cloud knowing it’s his Sky’s favourite too is adorable.

“I don’t think they have pans yet, Kyōya-kun. But if you want to stay long enough for the delivery and assembly men to be finished I can make you some.”

“Hn.” The single phoneme is an affirmation this time, and he uses some of the cooked rice from the fridge and the other supplies - one of the boys has a good eye for ingredients that would need encouraging and refining - to make some onigiri, and he plates up a few for the Cloud who takes them to nibble on, sinking easily into seiza at the low table.

“If you don’t mind a western-style mug I can make you some tea. I think I’ll make some for myself, too. It looks like they use the microwave and tea bags, but they’re at least not paper, and the tea is high quality from the scent.”

“Acceptable. Thank you.”

He makes two mugs of the tea, and he hums in pleasure. Given that it had been made in the microwave, with teabags, it was exquisite, and he’d heard rumors of the Vongola Hyper Intuition, apparently a far more developed version of a Sky’s normal intuition; if Tsuna could use that to select the best produce, and was the one of the pair that cooked, then perhaps he’d insist on giving him lessons. Gods knew his silly son could burn water, and given the communal living arrangements of most Sky sets, lessons would serve Tsuna well.

Once he’s prepared what he can with what’s in the kitchen area, he joins Kyōya in his silent enjoyment of the tea and onigiri. The Cloud is remarkably reasonable as long as one observes his fairly simple rules, which include keeping one’s teeth and claws sharp if one has them, and protecting the true-herbivores from false-herbivores who would prey on them. He snorts as he uses the teen’s own descriptors; they were fitting enough he supposed.

“I am trying to persuade my silly son to drop his herbivorous mask, Kyōya-kun. Would you be willing to start sparring with him regularly, perhaps beginning later this week, to allow him to adjust to fighting non-swordsmen?” The teen eyes him, and then his son, and nods. Takeshi is going to curse volubly when he throws him in their dojo and sets Kyōya on him, but it will do his silly son good.

The knock on the apartment door startles the teen - which he ignores, allowing Kyōya-kun to save face - and the Cloud vanishes back towards the bedroom, and he only opens the door when he hears the faint sounds of the teen resuming his rooftop perch.

“Sawada and Gokudera’s deliveries. They also paid for assembly?”

He points the men at the bedroom, throwing a thin Rain-based sound barrier up so the boys will stay asleep through the noise, and watches in mild astonishment as box after box is brought up and carefully stacked. He takes the bed, and leaves the more complicated dresser and desk to the delivery men, keeping half an eye on them as he assembles the western-style King-sized bed, and he allows his lips to curve. That had to have been his son’s Sky’s idea, given the fact there had only been a futon in the apartment before, and purchasing it and the mattress would probably explain how flustered Miura-chan had been earlier.

Fortunately the boys had had the department store carefully label their boxes, which makes the bedsheets and blankets easy to find. Selecting the heaviest set of sheets, he makes the bed, piling on all of the blankets from the same box and then the duvet, and then adjourns to the kitchenette. He’d seen an improvised heatpack earlier, and he pops it in the microwave to warm, and inspects the boxes that had been marked as kitchen supplies. His eyebrows rise when he sees the boxes’ contents; apparently he needn’t have been concerned about items having been overlooked. None of the boxes’ content is top-of-the-line, but it’s all solid, and well chosen, and with enough specialised utensils to make it clear that Tsuna - and he is fairly sure it’s his son’s Sky who can cook - is confident and creative in the kitchen. The knives he finds on the drying board are barely adequate, likely bought in the grocery store as a stop-gap measure, and not at all suited for Tsuna if he was to be the primary cook. He’ll go out tomorrow before he opens the restaurant and buy the boys that set of knives he was thinking of, and drop them off, with replacements for the supplies he’d used to feed Kyōya and prepare the bento.

“Sir? There’s a couch, too. Where would you like it?” He frowns; he hadn’t realised the men were done in the bedroom.

“Would you like to take a break for a few minutes? I have to move the boys into the bedroom first and that’ll take a bit.” The men nod, and file out, leaving the unassembled couch leaning against the wall outside. He retrieves the heat pack from the microwave, and tucks it into the blankets, and then leans his head out the window. “Can you come down and help me move the boys, please, Kyōya-kun? They’re all Flame-drunk, so need to be carried. The men are done in here.” He speaks softly, knowing that the Cloud routinely enhances his hearing. (In addition, he might not be a Mist, but he knows enough - and is trusted sufficiently - to be able to read the conditions on the territory overlaying the town, and mentioning Kyōya’s given name was enough for him to know what was said.)

Within thirty seconds of his question, the Cloud swings in through the other open window. Between the two of them, they get the smaller two tucked into their bed, and Takeshi comfortable on the futon they’d pulled into the bedroom; there were more than enough blankets to tuck his silly boy in to sleep off the Flames he’d been exposed to. (The Ring had damped Tsuna’s Flames down to the point where he can mostly ignore them, and the boys will probably wake up cheerful, and a little uninhibited, but mostly functional; Rings are a training aid, and help moderate flares and outbursts so that a young Flame User can learn to manage their Flames.) He hasn’t really been affected by Tsuna’s Flames, other than a certain lightening of his mood, because the little Sky has a Rain and a Cloud already, and that meant he can ignore the vague pull.

The men are back, and putting the couch together when he comes back out of the bedroom. His silly boy is going to be tricky to wake when he’s ready to return to the restaurant; the bedroom is saturated in sleep-laced Sky Flames and he’d challenge anyone to sleep in that environment and wake up before the Sky in question, at least without either a threat or practise. Takeshi has practise, but only with his own Rain, not his Sky’s. (He’d almost had a heart attack the first time Takeshi broke through the command to sleep and wandered downstairs into the restaurant and greeted the Varia Storm and Mist Officers cheerfully before snatching a snack from the counter.)

He decides to make beef udon for the boys in case they wake up hungry later. He fishes the proper pans out of the boxes, washes them, and starts cooking. (Discovering in the process that Tsuna’s eye for high quality foodstuffs extends to the beef; he hadn’t gone for _expensive_ cuts, but what was there was cooking evenly, had reasonable marbling, and he’d yet to find any gristle.) It’s a fairly quick process, and once he has it boxed up into portions, he tucks it into the fridge, and then checks the remaining boxes for a note-board; he suspects there will be one somewhere, and he finds it, and hangs and leaves several notes pinned to it.

He returns to the bedroom and despite his suspicion it would be futile, tries to wake his silly son. All he gets is “Five more minutes, Dad?” so he writes another note for his son, pins it to the board, and leaves the apartment. “Kyōya-kun, may I ask you to lock up from inside and close the windows before you leave?” There’s a soft thud from inside the apartment, he assumes from Kyōya dropping through a window. “Thank you.”

He’ll see his boy tomorrow, whenever he gets home.

* * *

he surfaces from sleep slowly and snuggles into the warm body next to him. he’s warm, and safe, and his Haya is sleeping beside him, and _holding_ him, and all he wants to do is go back to sleep. but he’s hungry, and should probably eat something, and his Haya should too.

he shakes his Haya, and his Haya buries his head in his hair. “Food, Haya. Lots of small meals. We have’ta eat more than we have been.”

“Hnn…Tsu? But _warm_.” his Haya whines, and he was tempted to stay put, but gathers his willpower up and rolls away from his Haya, who follows him, and he sits up before registering the room they’re in.

“Hiiieee!” his exclamation is nearly silent, but genuine, because that is _Takeshi_ asleep on the futon and he’s confused. if Takeshi’s on the futon - oh, the new furniture. the memory of how they’d been in Takesushi hits him hard, and he’s surprised he isn’t glowing with how much he’s blushing.

“Baseball-idiot must have gotten hit with your Flames too, Tsuna.” he pouts. he’d been enjoying the cute name his Haya came up with.

“What happened to ‘Tsu’, Haya? I liked it. I like it.” his Haya hugs him from behind, and puts his chin on his shoulder.

“Then I’ll call you Tsu.” he shivers - his Haya’s voice in his ear makes him feel warm - and leans back into the arms around him.

“Food. Then we can go back to sleep again, Haya.” there’s somewhat incoherent grumbling, but when he takes a step forward, his Haya shuffles forward with him, and he suppresses a giggle. he wouldn’t have thought his Haya was so cuddly forty-eight hours ago!

there’s notes on the cute noteboard he’d picked up on a whim, and he blinks at them sleepily. one for Takeshi, that says that he’s to show them the first of the ring-based control exercises when they’re sober, a note countersigned by Hibari-senpai that they’re all excused school until the end of the week, and a third that has him rummaging in the fridge. he pulls out two of the tupperware boxes, and two of the onigiri from the covered plate; he pulls the covers off the udon and sets them to heat, then hands one of the onigiri to his Haya, who all but inhales it.

“Okay, food was a good idea, Tsu.” he grins.

“We should thank Tsuyoshi-san, Haya. Possibly when we take the gently snoring log on the futon back to him in the morning.” his Haya - who had draped himself over him again - snorts. “We need to discuss Nezu, and I’m not sure Takeshi’s ready for that part of this yet.”

“Agreed.” he pulls away and stops the microwave just before it beeps, and pulls the gently steaming containers of noodles out. getting two pairs of chopsticks and handing one off to his Haya, they retreat to the couch to eat. it’s hard to eat when they’re curled around each other, but they manage it, and dump the containers in the sink and fill them with hot soapy water.

“We’ll wash those in the morning.” he yawns, and that sets his Haya off too. “For now, sleep.”

“Bed, Tsu.” he’s picked up and carried, and he barely feels being tucked back into bed, but the warm feeling of his Haya curling back around him is clear, and he sinks back to sleep with a happy sigh. he mumbles something, but he doesn’t know what, and his Haya mumbles back, and there’s warm breath and warm blankets and _sleep_.


	7. Chapter 7

As soon as he wakes up he knows he’s not in his own bed. It feels like a futon; where is he? Oh, right, Gokudera’s apartment. Well, Gokudera and Tsuna’s, now, he supposes. He can’t see the two of them ever separating now. Speaking of…

He gets up off the futon and looks around. There they are, on the bed, under so many blankets and so close together they look like one giant lump. Tsuna is on the inside, and has curled into Gokudera; his head has to be buried against the bomber’s chest from how close the fluffy hair is. Gokudera has his face buried in that hair near their Sky’s forehead. He grabs the desk chair and sits backwards in it, just watching them; They’re so adorable together, and he just wants to watch them forever. (He knows he’s a bit Electric. His old man had realised after the incident with the broken arm, but there’s no harm in indulging himself a little. And now he thinks about it, Gokudera probably should join the lessons his father is obviously planning for Haru and him. His - Gokudera’s - ability to fixate alternates between amusing and exasperating.)

He gets lost in watching his Sky and his Sky’s Storm. They’re so cute!

“Takeshi, you’re staring.” He twitches, and feels a little sheepish. “ _How_ do I know you’re staring, Takeshi-kun?”

“Don’t know enough about Sky Flames to be sure, Tsuna-kun, but Mists and Clouds both have tricks that allow them to ‘read’ the space around them. My old man does it with the restaurant, and I’m pretty sure Hibari-senpai does it with the school.”

“Whole of Namimori, actually, for Hibari-san, Takeshi. Think his range extends almost to Kokuyo Land?” He blinks. That’s huge. Hibari must be _enormously_ powerful to have a range like that. “He knew I was in the 'wrong' den on Sunday night, so his range definitely extends all the way out to the outskirts?”

“Wao.” He can only borrow Hibari-senpai’s rare sound of pleased surprise. And that does answer one of his questions. He debates whether to ask the others, but given that Gokudera is starting to mumble incoherently, he refrains. “Is the bathroom across the hallway?”

“Yes.” He leaves Tsuna to deal with the waking-up Gokudera. As curious as he is he knows better than to press his luck.

* * *

he yawns, and the warm cinnamon-y smell of his Tsu is the _best_ way to wake up. add in waking up without muscle aches from shivering, and without the gnawing hunger that he is far too familiar with, and he is in _heaven_. the bedroom door opens and shuts again, and he makes an incoherent noise. “Takeshi-kun’s just using the bathroom. If you let me up, Haya, I can start breakfast, and there can be coffee …” his Sky’s tone is slightly wheedling, and he has to summon _all_ of his willpower not to go back to sleep on his Tsu. “... and we don’t have to go to school today, Haya, so we can nap later? Maybe on the couch?”

he grumbles but rolls towards the edge of the bed, and he really doesn’t like letting go of his Tsu, even if his Tsu is bribing him with coffee, and his sneaky Sky is sneaky. he hadn’t seen Tsu put coffee in the groceries when they’d bought food!

the baseball-idiot appears from the bathroom once Tsu has presented him with a cup of coffee that makes him _moan_ in pleasure (which makes his Tsu go an interesting shade of pink), and the goofy-not-quite-an-idiot goes _sparkly_ when he sees their Sky frying eggs. (the apron his Tsu is wearing is cute, but not enough to justify anime-heart-eyes! and apparently their Rain has a Mist Secondary.)

he growls softly, and the baseball idiot looks startled for a moment before the heart-eyes effect disappears. “Not a threat, Gokudera. I was just thinking he’d make you an adorably lethal mafia wife; I’m not interested in any of _that_. Not sure it’s permanent, but Dad says it doesn’t matter if it is.” his eyes widen as he understands the implied confession. it also calms his territoriality a little, and he needs to find at least a Cloud Ring, and possibly a Lightning one if he thinks about his own behaviour, and that was going to be expensive unless they could get the cow-brat to hand over his; he suspects that Hibari would allow him to borrow his, providing he offered him some more sparring matches.

“No growling at Takeshi-kun, Hayato.” he pouts, but there’s a plate of food being slid in front of him, and more coffee, and his Tsu folds into seiza beside him, and leans against him slightly. “He’s not done anything to deserve it.” he’d disagree, but he has happy, content Tsuna and he doesn’t want it to stop.

the baseball idiot sits down opposite them with another plate of food, and he makes a sound like a grumpy cat, but doesn’t do anything else; his Tsu didn’t even flinch or look up when the Rain sat down, and was steadily eating through a large portion of scrambled eggs with cheese.

once they’re done, and the plates have been washed up, and put away, Takeshi sinks back into seiza on the far side of the table. “Okay. Dad did leave a note about the first control exercise, and as we don’t have to go to school, we might as well start with it? Then we can have a snack before we leave your apartment, Gokudera.” he and Tsu both focus; being Flame-drunk had been enjoyable, but it wasn’t _practical_.

the baseball-idiot places his hands in front of him, with the Ring clearly visible (he remembered that Tsuyoshi had told them to put the Rings on last night, that they’d help, and why hadn’t Reborn told Tsu that that would help?), concentrates - the expression reminds him of when the idiot is up to bat - and a soft blue flame lights above the Ring, which is promptly followed by a grin from Takeshi. “Words, Yakyuu-Baka.”

“Maa, maa, Gokudera. Needed to find the right words, and _doing_ things helps me learn and remember.” he blinks, thoughtful. Takeshi being a kinesthetic learner makes a surprising amount of sense, and explains how he’s so good at things like statistics - he bets the idiot had used baseball to learn how and why the numbers worked - but _atrocious_ at history (at least at history that wasn’t to do with swords). “They get easier and easier to call as your body gets used to them. It’s like muscle memory? 100 mph balls used to make my shoulder ache when I hit them, but training means I can handle far faster balls now. They’re called Dying Will Flames because translations get a bit mangled sometimes, but really, the determination to do something no matter the _personal_ cost is the easiest way to call them.”

Tsu looks curious. “How do you call them, Takeshi-kun?” the baseball-idiot’s cheeks pink, and he hesitates a moment before answering.

“That fight I had with Squalo-sama was rigged. Even if it _kills_ me, I want him to take me seriously and fight me properly.” he squints at Takeshi. that makes sense, but -

“Takeshi-kun, lying to your Sky is a _very_ bad idea.” his own ears _burn_ because his mind had jumped to a possible consequence, and no, no, bad Hayato. he lights his own Flames in a bid to distract himself - keeping his Tsu safe and happy is an easy thought to use to call his Flames - only to be met by a raging inferno of multi-coloured Flames covering his hands, rather than the simple red Flame he’s used to. Takeshi responds by dosing him with enough Rain Flames they go away again, and he slumps into his Tsu’s side.

“I wasn’t lying, exactly, Tsuna-kun. That _is_ one of the ways I summon my Flames.” this isn’t the same sort of drunk as last night, and it’s already easing, but all he wants to do is slip down until his head is in his Tsu’s lap and lay there until it wears off again. “I was just thinking that the two of you are adorable, and cute, and I want to protect that? Especially with you being the heir now.”

“So something I’m willing to _die_ for.” the Flame on his Tsu’s Ring is brilliant, the purest, brightest orange he’s ever seen, and comes to his Sky with such ease that it steals his breath. compared to the misery of Sealed-Tsuna, when he’d first arrived, his Tsu is _gorgeous_ and confident and there’s a tiny bit of lust that he doesn’t have to ignore anymore and the hand without the Ring drops into his hair to scritch at his scalp in the same way that had made him purr the previous evening. “Haya.”

“Yes, Tsu?”

“You were the thought, Haya.” he freezes and flails and squeaks, and how is he supposed to deal with or even process that statement. his Tsu can light _that_ flame with that thought! and the idiot is actually cooing and his face is _scarlet_. “And you have _no_ idea how adorable that expression is.” he blinks as the orange Flame vanishes, and before he tries to move, his Tsu presses a soft kiss to his forehead. he spontaneously ignites again (metaphorically, not literally) and makes a high, whining noise.

“You’re being Electric, Takeshi.” the baseball idiot mutters to himself and he rolls on his side and buries his head in Tsu’s stomach and halfheartedly wishes either for a hole to swallow him (and preferably Tsu, too) or one to swallow Takeshi. “So. If you can light the Ring, the next stage is to work on _modulating_ the Flame? Adjusting how much you feed into like _this_.” the (Rain) Flame pressure in the room almost disappears and then ramps up to the point where it’s close to giving him a headache and then back down again, with the intensity of the Flame dancing above the Ring on Takeshi’s finger.

“That I know how to do, though only with the gloves, and I’ve only ever done in it in Hyper Dying Will Mode.” he sits up, and the look on the baseball idiot’s face is priceless.

“ _That’s_ why Dad told me not to force either end of the range. That actually makes _sense_. Especially if it inverts the Flame, and,” Takeshi’s mumbling to himself, and he has to remind himself that the oblivious idiot routine was just that. “- if doing that to Sky Flames creates ‘zero-point’, shit, why didn’t he explain it? If I’d done that with Rain Flames …” he follows the thought, and blinks, though this time the blinking is because his own brain has just kicked into gear.

“I think you’d have learned not to the first time you did it Yakyuu-Baka, if you inverted tranquility round, oh, say, Hibari. Providing you survived the experience, of course.” he could definitely see uses for it, and now he’s _curious_. “Though we probably shouldn’t experiment here.”

“That’s what the area behind the Shrine’s for.” wait, there’s an area _behind_ the Shrine?

“I didn’t know there was anything behind the Shrine but more woods.” wait, _Tsuna_ didn’t know there was anything there?

“Haha, yeah, it’s old family land.”

“Takeshi-kun? What do you mean, _family_ land?” the baseball-idiot looks sheepish.

“Uhh… I… another thing Dad’s been teaching me? We changed our name a long time ago because the family tended to roam and we didn’t want to attract attention, but I’m technically an Asari? I think Dad knew who you were as soon as he saw you. Before he even heard your last name. You _do_ look like Ieyasu.” wait, WHAT?!

“ASARI!? How the HELL are you an Asari?!” he’s yelling. he knows he’s yelling. Tsu doesn’t like yelling. he takes a deep breath. “Yamamoto Takeshi, you’ve been hiding things from your Sky. Your friends. Why?” deep breaths, Hayato; keep your calm, Tsu needs you calm.

“Because it’s not important what my family was. What my ancestor was. That he was friends with yours. It only matters that I’m here, now, with my friends. That Tsuna-kun is my Sky, that he’s happy and safe. I’d rather the Vongola wasn’t involved at all, but what’s done is done. All I can do is make sure we all have a future. Reborn won’t, so Dad and I will.” the idiot actually has a faint pink tint across his cheekbones, and that’s the first time he’s ever seen Takeshi blush. “And hopefully the others that Dad’s written to will help, too. I know he’s waiting for some notes on training Lightning and Mist Flames.”

* * *

“What are you searching for Kyō-chan?” She’s a little confused; her adorable carnivore of a son has the compound staff searching every one of the store rooms, and there are several Flame Sealed containers on the low dining room table. It’s not what she’d expected to return from Kyoto to discover, but before she can discover what set off her boy, she needs to defuse the incipient detonation; the container he was examining isn’t going to open for him, no matter what he does.

“Hn.” She raises an eyebrow and waits; her boy knows better than to try that with her. “The Little Animal showed his claws off.” She works through the metaphor, and tried to remember who had the moniker of ‘Little Animal’.

“Ieyasu’s great-great-great-grandson has gone Active, finally?” The way her son frowns suggests there’s more to it than that, which probably explains why he’s tearing through the records.

“Broke a Seal.” Kyō-chan’s eyes flash a dangerous shade of purple, and she blinks at the indication of how volatile his Flames currently are. “The Little Animal went Active when I did.” And then his words register, and her own Flames _roar_. It had been hard handling a Flame Active pre-schooler, made both harder and easier by their shared Primary Flame. It made far more sense that her son had Activated because he had a Sky, and the bracelets around her wrists _glow_ purple and dark blue.

“Training Room. _Now_.” Her control’s slipping, and Kyōya will enjoy the resulting fight; he’ll be stronger than her eventually, but he’s yet to beat her, and she needs the challenge of keeping up with him now he has his Sky back.

“Wao.” He puts the container down, and the household staff freeze and press themselves to the wall as the two of them succumb to temptation and begin their fight before they get to the training rooms. His blows have significantly more force than they had even six months ago, and he’s actually _using_ the Mist Flame he had been in vehement denial about. The fight descends into Mist tricks and sensory chaos for a few minutes, and then there’s a tonfa blow she barely ducks, and a second that pushes her limits to intercept; her bracelets are effective, and most importantly discreet enough that she can wear them even into the Emperor’s presence, but they are far more of a defensive weapon than an offensive one. Kyōya’s tonfa spoke volumes about what he thought his Sky would need him for (almost as much as their own ancestor’s handcuffs were one of the clearest indications of Alaude’s role for his Sky).

“You’re improving rapidly, Kyō-chan. May I send for my brother to teach you some additional techniques?” She phrases it as a question; her Kyō-chan had taken a profound dislike to Fon when he’d been younger, a dislike that she’d never quite gotten to the bottom of, but given his behaviour, the skills to defend his Sky would win over that dislike.

The Flames on his tonfa vanish and her son drops his tonfa, which also vanish, and she allows her lips to twitch. “Hn.” Agreement so quickly? "He must promise to actually observe the Arcobaleno that follows the Little Animal around. The false-carnivore hurts my Sky, and I have been unable to make him stop." His follow up statement makes her _twitch_. She hadn’t realised any of her brother’s colleagues are in town, but that could be her son’s Flames obscuring things.

“Which one, Kyō-chan? I should warn Fon.”

“Hn. Yellow Pacifier.” Ah. Reborn; of all of her brother’s colleagues, her least favourite, and probably the one who should be allowed around neither children nor Skies. Providing she put aside his abominable behaviour before the Curse, he had some cause to distrust Skies, especially ones strong enough to attract him, but that simply meant that he should avoid putting himself in active proximity to them, rather than giving him an excuse to torture them.

“Hmmm. I would have thought I would have noticed the pest’s presence, Kyō-chan.”

Her son’s smile had _teeth_. “The Little Animal showed his claws off, and the false-carnivore has been taken to Italy to be bitten to death by his daughter.” She snickered. Fon had _deliberately_ put her in correspondence with Aria, and for all the poor woman is the daughter of Luce-the-Betrayer and Renato-the-Ladykiller, she’s pleasingly vicious and competent, and she had considered claiming her as her Sky; only the likelihood of having to move to Italy had put her off. “And then the Little Animal’s bomb-herbivore showed off his claws too.” It was a trifle unnerving how ecstatic her bruised and panting son was about all the changes; he normally fought them tooth and bloody nail.

“Did he put up a good fight, Kyō-chan?” She doubts that her son would tolerate any less, and equally doubts that he actually killed the boy for the display of his claws and fangs.

“There will be explosions on the Asari land on Friday.” The words seem like a non-sequitur, but their import registers, and she smiles. Apparently the boy had impressed her adorable carnivore, and is willing to fight with him on at least a semi-regular basis. They wander back to the dining room, where the containers have been neatly stacked and a light meal set out, and she feels every bruise on her body as she folds herself into seiza. “So how,” he indicated with his hashi, “- do I open those containers, Kaa-chan?”

She takes a small piece of the chicken and eats it before she answers. “Manners, Kyō-chan. Around half of them only need a fine application of Flames, but some require specific Flames. The one you were holding earlier needs Sky Flames, for example.”

“Hn.” She rolls her eyes and snags another piece of chicken.

“You never did answer my question as to why you were searching the compound, Kyō-chan.”

“The Little Animal needs instruction amongst other things, and _something_ ,” he waves the hashi and she glares at him again until he put them down. “- was calling to me.”

* * *

Takeshi had gone home a while ago; his Haya had pulled him onto the couch after that and they’d just talked for a long time. he’s learned more about his Haya in two hours than he has in the entire time they’ve known each other. has it been almost two years already? (a good portion of said information needs to be stashed for later; his Haya deserves a piano or similar later, but not until he’s _ready_. and there had been other snippets as well that he is going to use to treat his Haya. like that his Storm loves gelato in almost any flavour, but especially espresso, and that he loves cheeses and cured and dried meats and olives. maybe he’d have to talk to Mammon next time they show up at Takesushi. or failing that, ask Dino-nii to bring him some treats for Haya? there were a number of ways he can safely feed that craving for Haya.

but he is hungry, and even if his Haya isn’t _feeling_ hungry, they _both_ should eat. “You promised to play sous-chef for me, Haya. We should eat something, and then maybe we can put Mythbusters on again?” there’s a low, catlike grumbling sound from his Storm, but Haya lets him get up, and then unfolds himself, too.

“I’ll check whether the Japanese-subtitles have downloaded.”

he pouts. “But Haya, I _like_ when you translate.”

“But if I’m translating, then I can’t eat and we can’t babble about things, Tsu. We can go back to me translating once we’ve finished?” he can deal with that compromise. “And how about hamburger-steak for dinner?”

he squeaks; he never expected his Haya would remember that! and he hasn’t gotten to have his favourites in close to two years. his Kaa-san has tended to cook meals aimed at Lambo and Fuuta and Reborn, things comforting and familiar to them. “Surely there’s something else you’d like to eat, Haya?”

his Storm blinks. “Tsu, why _wouldn’t_ I want to eat hamburger-steak? It’s good, and it’s your favorite, too. I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t actually like it.” oh. oh! his Haya is so good to him. “As much as I miss some Italian food, I really do enjoy Japanese food, Tsu.” the tips of his ears still heat as he pulls the ingredients out of the refrigerator; he doesn’t get the things he wants. ever. except he’d gotten Haya, hadn’t he? maybe his luck is changing? “It is, Tsu. I promise you. I’ll make it change. I’m sure Takeshi will, too. Even Hibari wants you to be happy, though he has an odd way of showing it.”

“Hiiieee? Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes, Tsu. And you do have me. And personally, I think I’m lucky to have you. Just to have you want me is more than I’d ever hoped for.” Haya returns the kiss from earlier; his blush spreads rapidly from the center of his forehead even before his Haya’s lips leave it. “And that blush is adorable.” he mumbles something incoherent, and his skin feels like it’s burning, but his Haya is still looking at him like that, and he wants to bury his head in his hands but they’re full of ground meat for the hamburger steak. “I mean it, Tsu.” he puts the ground meat down, but his Haya has already moved, and he’s pulled into his Haya’s arms, and he buries his head in his Haya’s chest while Storm Flames clean the remnants of raw meat off his fingers. he’s mortified by the heaving sobs that escape his lips; he hadn’t expected that to hit the nerve that it had. “Oh, Tsu. Which mine did I hit?” Haya picks him up, he’s not quite sure how, and then he’s in his Storm’s lap on the sofa, head still buried, and chest still heaving. “Is this something to do with the fact your Kaa-san hasn’t rung yet to ask where you are?”

“Not expecting her to notice m’gone, to be honest.” his Haya winces, and one hand tries scritching at the back of his neck, while the other rubs at his back. “She prefers the little ones, including Reborn. It’s like she doesn’t even see me any more.” he hiccups another sob, not sure why he’s like this. he’s been resigned to his Kaa-san’s behaviour for years, even before Reborn had arrived.

“Oh, Tsu. No one should have that happen. Tell me, what else has she forgotten? Tell me. Bleed it out.”

“When’s your birthday, Haya?” his Haya doesn’t freeze - he tenses so hard he’s shaking now.

“When, Tsu? When should we have been celebrating?” there’s ice in his Haya’s voice, and it sounds like he has to force the question out past a clenched jaw and a snarl. “I never put it together, but you should have had at least _one_ since I got here.”

“‘tober 14th.” there’s a snarl, but it’s not aimed at him. “Reborn stole the first one after you arrived, trained to fight Xanxus for the second. Spent most of it unconscious after falling off a cliff.” his Haya tips them both over sideways, and keeps petting him gently.

“Perhaps we should both pick a new birthday and make sure we get to have a private celebration, Tsu. My current one doesn’t have very many happy memories associated with it, either.” he makes a questioning noise into his Haya’s collarbone. “Well, the first bad one was my fourth. My mother… her name was Gokudera Lavina. I didn’t know she was my mother. She was just the pretty lady who taught me piano and was nice to me when no one else was. She was killed coming to see me for my birthday with a gift in the car. They called it suicide, then said her illness acted up and she was unconscious when she went over the rail. Shamal - he's her cousin, did you know? - told me later she was mostly managing it. She wouldn’t have passed out without enough warning to get to the side of the road.” he whines, and curls his arms around his Haya.

“Then until my 8th I was poisoned and forced to play the piano. On my 8th birthday I was up early and overheard maids gossiping. That’s when I found out who my real mother was. I was out on the streets willingly before noon.”

“Oh, Haya. My Haya.”

“The streets are hard, even after I woke my Flames, which happened about my ninth birthday, but still safer than being around Bianchi? But still, that happened, and there was the hit I crawled away from completing, and the birthday I spent convinced Bianchi had found me again because I ate some bad mussels.” and he hugs his Haya tighter still. “Then after I got here, my first birthday in Namimori was the Sports Festival, and my next I apparently almost killed you. Not that it was me, but still.”

“Oh, my Haya. Definitely picking a new day. What about …” he trails off, thinking, then four dates hit him at once. “The day we met, or the day of the fireworks, or even the day of the Storm Battle, - we’ve both admitted that’s the day we knew this wasn’t some passing thing - or what about…Sunday? When this started for real. Those are days that mean something to both of us.” his Haya freezes for real this time, and he can feel a wet pressure on his head. his Haya has been crying? Haya shouldn’t cry. Haya shouldn’t have a _reason_ to cry. not ever again.

“Tsu? I have an idea. What about today?” Haya’s face lifts from his hair. “I… I won’t do this again until we’re both ready, but -” there are fingers lifting his chin, and then - then his brain stalls.

his Haya’s lips are on his - just for a second. it’s soft, and sweet, and short.

“I love you, Tsu. I’m not ready, and you’re not ready, but… Tsu, that was a _promise_. A promise not to wait, but to walk with you until we’re both ready to be together for real.”

he blinks at his Haya, the one he _loves_ , and returns the kiss with an identical one. “A promise, Gokudera Hayato. We walk _together_. I love you.”

"Happy birthday, Tsu."

"Happy birthday, Haya."

food can wait a bit longer. being in each others’ arms is more important.


	8. Chapter 8

“Tsu. Hey, Tsu, it’s getting late, and we need to eat, and probably shower, too.” he runs his hand down the back of his Tsu’s head, then holds him close and sits them up.

“I know. But -”

“- we can cuddle more once we’ve showered, and eaten, Tsu.” his Tsu grumbles and mumbles, but does stand up.

“I’ll prepare the hamburger steak, Haya, and you take the first shower?” he almost wants to drag his Tsu into the shower with him, because their _very_ brief kisses have had an interesting effect, but they aren’t anywhere near ready for that, and hadn’t really been ready for the gentle kisses they’d exchanged. and the hamburgers would need to rest, too …

(it has nothing at all to do with the mental image that has his cheeks pinking _again_ , and anyway, Tsu cooking in only a frilly apron would be dangerous and unhygenic.)

he emerges from the bathroom pink, and scrubbed, and with the interesting effect dealt with, and Tsu’s look of concentration as he finishes preparing the components of dinner (at least those not requiring hot oil) is adorable, and he’s really glad he dealt with that issue, because his Tsu had found the apron he’d snuck into the pile of household linens. he’s fairly sure his Tsu has no idea what he’s doing to him. (it’s not the frilly apron of his fantasy, and his Tsu bought it, but _he_ chose it, and it soothes _something_ in his head.)

“Done, Tsu.” his Sky beams at him, and slides the tray of hamburger patties into the fridge, and he melts, and drags his Sky into another hug, just because (he might only be wearing a towel, but it’s _very_ firmly wrapped, and his Tsu had gone in for bath-sheets and he’s covered nearly knees to collarbones) and he resists the urge to kiss his Tsu’s forehead again. he has so much mental shit to work through before he lets himself have more. “If you go shower now, I’ll dry and comb your hair for you before you start the hamburgers.” his Tsu squeaks, and he doesn’t ask the question that springs to mind because he suspects that he’ll want to kill Nana again.

his Tsu slips into the bathroom, and he makes sure to leave his comb and hair stuff out on the low table in front of the couch when he’s done (so sue him, even with everything else, he’s still an Italian male, and good grooming has its place; the fact that taking care of his Tsu’s hair would probably leave him with a puddle of affectionate Tsu was only a bonus). once he’s dry, he pulls on a clean set of boxers and a pair of sleep-pants, and then wraps himself in the short quilted yukata his Tsu had insisted on. it’s warm, and luxuriously soft, and dark blue, patterned in silver dragons and snowflakes, and he whines a little bit in the back of his throat because he’s spent the last three days actually warm and he keeps expecting the other shoe to drop.

* * *

he _whines_ softly as his Haya works the comb through his hair gently, not pulling or tugging, but easing the knots out of it, and massaging his scalp, and he only goes slightly pink when a slight moan escapes his lips, because it really does feel _incredibly_ good and the sound had escaped by itself, honest.

"When's the last time you actually combed this mess, Tsu, sweetheart?" his hair isn’t a mess! …is it?

"I generally… don't?" his Haya makes a mildly scandalised sound. “It just gets washed, Haya. That’s all it needs.”

“That’s _not_ all it needs, sweetheart. Stay put while I go and get something from the bathroom.” his Haya disappears into the bathroom, and comes back again, and he’s still a melted puddle of bliss, and then his Haya is applying something to his hair and it smells really nice but the gentle fingers working it into his hair are even better. “There we go, Tsu. That’s going to help with this.” his Haya goes back to combing his hair out, gently, and he squeaks as he realises that it’s not trying to stand up straight. he’s used to his spikes! “Don’t worry, Tsu. It’s still spiky. It just looks a bit less like a broom and a bit more like your ancestor’s.” a broom? was his hair really that bad before?

he reaches one self-conscious hand up to touch his hair gently, only to find it very soft, and he’s confused, and his Haya is still massaging his scalp, and he leans back against his Haya kinda muzzy-brained. “Conditioner is _not_ just for women’s hair, Tsu. It makes everything soft and easy to manage, and your hair _needs_ it sweetheart.” there’s a pause, and his Haya’s hands still too. “Can I keep doing this for you, please, Tsu?”

“Mhmmm.” words are hard. he has his Haya’s hands massaging his scalp and he’s all warm and fuzzy and relaxed, with a tiny knot of unfamilar anticipation at the base of his spine, as if there’s something more waiting _just_ out of reach. “Feels ver’g’d, H’ya. Stupid no’ t’let you.” his Haya makes a pleased sound, and the fingers press a little more firmly, and he finds himself actually purring, low and content as they find just the right spot and all the tension unravels and he moans quietly and goes limp and slack against his Haya, and he can’t quite believe he’s purring like a cat, but Haya’s warm, and he’s warm, and he could just curl up and sleep now. his Haya eases him down flat on the bed - when had they moved to the bedroom? - and climbs in next to him and joins him and mmmm, his Haya smells good, and he shuts his eyes, and his Haya makes an amused sound and there’s a soft beep, and then his Haya’s arms are around him.

“I’ve set an alarm, Tsu. You can nap.” he lets his pleased muzziness leak into his Flames, and his Haya wraps around him, and _’t’s’good_.

* * *

his Tsu is asleep almost on his chest, and he’s still playing with his Tsu’s hair and wondering at the reaction he’d got from his Tsu just by combing it. the pleased muzziness of his Tsu’s Flames stop him from raging at all the implications of, well, _everything_ his Tsu’s admitted to verbally and physically, but he’s still worried, still a protective Guardian, and even if they’re not ready for anything _else_ , he can still use this as a way to make sure his Tsu gets all the touch he needs. (and he wants to know what had made his Tsu go limp like that. it hadn’t been an orgasm; he’d have seen a bulge in his Tsu’s orange-on-white yukata, and there’d have been a mess if it had been, but it had _definitely_ been pleasure of some sort, and he’d liked giving it to his Tsu.)

his Tsu makes the cutest little kitten yawn when he starts to wake up again. “Good nap, sweetheart?” he blushes as he realises the endearment he’s just used. has been using. but his Tsu hadn’t protested …

“All warm and fuzzy and _love you_ , Haya.” his Tsu sits up, and he wants to whine at the loss, but he’s hungry too, and just feeling hungry and knowing he can eat and it’ll taste good is so weird. “Should cook though. We haven’t eaten since we chased Takeshi-kun out, and now I’ve made the patties - and enough for three bento as well as dinner - I’m defini’ly craving hamburger steak, Haya.”

“Then go cook them, sweetheart. I promise to stay well away from the hot oil, just in case.” he’s teasing; for some reason having admitted to being able to turn almost anything into explosives to his Tsu makes him feel better about his lack of actual cooking ability? “Kind of want to figure out what that was when I was combing your hair, too. Want to see you like that again. It was _adorable_.”

he follows his Tsu out of the bedroom and curls up on the sofa with his laptop, pulls up a VPN and then turns safe search off and tries some very cautious search terms because the internet is for (visual) porn and he has no desire to watch any right now, but he’s also curious as a cat, and if he can make his Tsu purr like that again, he wants to.

he finds the answer far deeper in the kinky bit of the internet than he really wanted to dive with his Tsu in the kitchen humming softly to himself and radiating happiness at being ‘allowed’ to cook - and his Tsu’s favourites at that - and his libido is perking up its metaphorical ears again, and he _knows_ they both need to work on things before they go any further than they already have, but he suspects there’re going to be more ‘showers’ in his future. his Tsu had said he could keep playing with his hair? but he feels sort of torn, and is still turning over the implications in his head, and wondering whether if it had been the baseball-idiot purring like that and melting, would he be okay with it, when his Tsu places their hamburger steak on the table, and he closes the laptop lid almost guiltily.

“Haya?” his Tsu’s looks at him with orange-tinted eyes. “I’m not going to get mad, Haya.” he explains, one wary eye on his Tsu’s reactions, past lessons learned _very_ hard, and it’s just as well the hamburger steak needs to rest, because he babbles until his Tsu presses a finger to his lips. “Yes, me responding like that was well outside of what we’d agreed was okay, but you didn’t expect that, and weren’t trying to cause it. It _did_ feel good, and I don’t want you to stop touching me, Haya. Maybe we just have to be good at not taking it too far?” his Tsu trails off, and looks down at the single big plate with their shared dinner on it.

“If-you’re-okay-with-it-it’s-okay-with-me-Tsu? That-wasn’t-about-sex, didn’t-feel-wrong, liked-making-you-feel-good.” The words race each other out of his mouth, tumbling one-over-another and he wants this to work so very very much.

“Slower, my Haya.” Tsu’s holding _him_ , now, petting _his_ hair, and something settles in his mind again.

“It wasn’t - isn’t - about sex, Tsu. It didn’t hit any of my buttons, and -” he flails and searches for more words, “- it was more like I’d cuddled you and you’d gotten really relaxed and all the tension had gone out of you, and you weren’t _physically_ aroused and I -” he runs out of words again.

“It was gentle, non-sexual touch that you could _see_ bringing me pleasure. I’m not objecting to you indulging yourself with playing with my hair, Haya; I was more worried that the fact I’d,” the hand not in his hair waves, and his brain spins off on a tangent about how much sex-related education his Tsu has - or hasn’t - had, “-uh, ‘enjoyed’ myself, would make you uncomfortable?” the blush on his Tsu’s face is adorable. “And I wouldn’t mind, err, melting like that again.” not much at all, he decides. which leaves him with the tricky decision as to what to do about _that_. maybe he’ll have to leave a website open on his laptop? the problem will be to find something that his Tsu can read; his favourite one is in English. and right now, talking about everything in detail, including all the things two men can do together, would sorely try his self-control. maybe he’d have to work up the nerve to ask the baseball idiot as to whether he’d been given a ‘good’ talk? he shoves that thought to the back of his head, and sits up.

“If you enjoyed it, and you’re okay with it, then there can be more scritching, Tsu. And more melting, if you’re really sure.”

“I’m sure.” his Tsu grins at him. “And now we really should eat before the hamburger steak gets cold, Haya.”

* * *

“I think this is the first time you’ve visited the estate, Don Cavallone.”

“Dino, please, Donna Aria.” She’s been very blunt and public about being Donna Aria; her mother had been the Giglio-Nero, and had let it go to her head. “Don Dino sounds ridiculous, and Don Cavallone makes me twitch and look for my father, even if I have to put up with it in public.” A young blond Lightning, perhaps his own age makes a slight indignant sound.

“Calm, Gamma. He’s not doing anything that it’s reasonable to take offence at, even if our bond is _raw_.” The blond settles, a little ruffled still, and Romario eases back down to a slightly more relaxed position. “If you’re going to be Dino, then please call me Aria without the title, Dino. And what brings you here?”

“I haven’t got the _complete_ story, but about fourty-eight hours ago, Reborn pushed his current student, my _chosen_ baby brother, too far. When he did it to me, I ended up in hospital, but Tsuna was taught to use Zero-Point at the Vongola Ninth’s instigation.” Aria has her head buried in her hands. Gamma - that’s the name she’d used for the Lightning - has an amused smirk on his face, and turns to a cabinet, and retrieves an eerily familiar but outsized hat (except it was entirely normal in size. Was that _why_ it looked too big?), placing it in front of his Sky.

“If he’s not careful I’ll be the one to freeze him next time, even if it is currently giving me a headache balancing the Pacifiers without him providing both Sun _and_ Mist Flames; Xanxus is being very defensive of Viper at the moment.” Her hands had been toying with the hat, and then she places on her head, tilts it, smirks, and how does everyone ignore her relation to Reborn? “I love the ridiculous man; I sort of have to, he’s my father, but it doesn’t stop me wanting to kill him sometimes. And from what I’ve heard, both you and Tsunayoshi would be entirely justified in any murders. Of course, I’m grateful you _haven’t_ killed him, given the consequences.”

He rubs his eyes, and considers his options. “I need to talk to Squalo, anyway; perhaps I could drop a hint about Xanxus needing to discuss _Mammon_ with you?” Left unspoken was both that she would defrost Reborn and discuss things with him, and the gentle rebuke about Mammon preferring the name their Sky had given them.

“I would be grateful, and I will try to remember that, Dino. Mamma's diaries call them Viper, and they’ve always hidden themself very well; I hadn’t put the pieces together until the Ring Battles, and they’ve been able to conceal themself very well since then. Now. Gamma, go and help Romario with bringing in my dear father; I need to have a few words with Dino in _private_.” Gamma _froze_ , shook his head, and flared his Flames, and Aria’s Sky moved in pleased ways under them. He reads the _very_ blunt message, loud and clear; he’s not interested in what Aria’s relationship is with her Lightning - and Gamma is definitely _hers_ \- other than any use it would have to poke Reborn with, and then Gamma and Romario are gone. “My father is an abusive asshole to Skies, and he spent more than four years training you. Have you ever actually talked about it, Dino Cavallone?”

He blinks. He’s never had anyone actually ask him, but if he pokes at the inside of his head, it’s probably why he’s adopted Tsuna so quickly and aggressively; he’d at least had reasonable adults (like Romario) around that patched him up and told him that his tutor was wrong when he called him Idiot-Dino, and picked up the academic slack. And surviving Reborn had left him able to bounce back from even full scale attacks on the Villa?

“He wasn’t _that_ bad?” He hates how unsure he sounds.

“He shot you with those fucking modified bullets of his in front of your classmates and during at least two formal balls, Dino. And he called you Idiot-Dino to _everyone_.” Okay, maybe he had been that bad? But he’d survived. “And you still go running when he calls. That’s a conditioned response, and I’m reasonably sure it’s to avoid additional pain. If I want to list more of his faults, then how many actual Guardians do you have?” He twitches slightly; that was considered a very rude question to ask a Sky for a number of reasons, including the strength of Flames required to maintain a full set. “I have _one_ , Dino. Some of that is the Curse, but more of it is -” she waves her hands in frustration. “I refuse to be _either_ of my parents. Which is why I’m coming back to Japan with you; I need to talk to young Tsuna about one of my visions, and I have a potential Guardian to spank as well.”

He pinks; he’s not sure if she means the spanking comment literally, but she’s a gorgeous woman, and there’s only two people she could mean, and watching her spank either of them would be _very_ pretty. “I’ve got two. But Bono prefers to leave hovering at my shoulder to Romario; he has too much fun in the shadows.”

“And I suspect you bonded with them despite my father, not because of.” He doesn’t have an answer for that; she’s probably right. Given the circumstances of both bonds clicking -

* * *

“Kyō-chan, you have manners. Please use them, or at least your words.” At least her husband - Kyō-chan’s father - was still in Kyoto, which meant she’d slept in a light shift, but still waking up to her silly carnivore sat cross-legged at the bottom of her futon poking at her foot is startling; she thought he’d given that habit up.

“There are false herbivores trying to sneak into Namimori, Kaa-chan. Will you help me bite them to death?” She blinks stupidly; her Kyō-chan was offering to share prey. Having an Active, unSealed Sky was obviously doing him good.

“Of course, Kyō-chan. You know I enjoy hunting with you.”

“Hn.”

“But you do need to let me get dressed, Kyō-chan. You know the rules; in fact -” she looks him up and down, “- please go get changed into something a little more puncture resistant. You’re making me feel vulnerable just looking at you, my silly boy.” He vanishes, and she pulls on one of the robes her brother had gifted her some years ago. Violet to his crimson, fitted, with flowers up the side to hide the closures, and shorter sleeves; he knows how she uses her Flames and with enough exposure even Flame-treated and armored fabric can catch. Kyō-chan returns in his school uniform, and she hides her amusement; at least his gakuran is armoured, and he is wearing it properly for once. “How many, Kyō-chan?”

She understands his offer to share prey better when he holds up both hands; nine, probably either with firearms or Flames, are a little much for her little carnivore on his own, and while some of his minions are well trained, only her boy’s Kusakabe-kun is also Active. (Which was entirely Kyō-chan’s fault; Tetsuya had developed his Flames to improve his puncture-resistance. Kyō-chan had had a few bad habits it had taken her time to break him of, and that one hadn’t gone away until she’d armed him.)

“Are they after Tsu-chan?” He nods, and it’s easy to call her Flames to the surface. “Lead the way, Kyō-chan.”

* * *

the thud shakes the building, and he’s instantly awake, and on guard, but his Tsu is still mostly asleep, curled in his arms, so he stays put. “S’okay, Haya. Hibari’s having fun with his Kaa-san.” There’s a second thump, and a flash of purple Flames. “Should get up and make them something to eat, though. They’re using _lots_ of Flames, and they should eat some’fing. ‘Xplains why I made so many patties earlier. Thought they were to freeze, but Hibari will enjoy them.” his Tsu wriggles off him, and he misses his warmth already. “Should ask her if she can teach you any tricks, Haya. If I remember rightly, her husband’s a really senior politician. He came to parents’ day when I was eight, and everyone freaked out about it.” he blinks. that sort of explains Hibari better. he watches his Tsu wriggle back into his orange-and-white yukata, appreciatively. “Come keep me company, Haya?”

he almost doesn’t want to move, but his Tsu is far too much fun to watch in the kitchen; his Flames were peaceful and content, and his Tsu radiated _enjoyment_ , and he can’t believe Reborn hadn’t seen that. (he doesn’t want to think about the alternative; that Reborn had taken that away from his Tsu deliberately to make him more malleable.) his Tsu smiles sadly at him, obviously having followed his thought process, and then he’s struggling under his own yukata and laughing, and his Tsu scampers out of the room.

by the time he’s wrestled his way out from under the blankets and the yukata, and then put it on properly, his Tsu is already pulling things out of the refrigerator. “How will they know to come get food, Tsu?”

“Texted Kusakabe-san. If Hibari-senpai’s stalking prey, his cell will be switched off; too noisy.” that makes sense, and he busies himself putting appropiate things on the table, including a jug of water, while his Tsu cooks some of the raw hamburger steaks and reheats the reduction he’d made to go with it.

his Sky’s _timing_ makes it clear that the Seal really is gone; he’s just plating the hamburger steaks (with smaller portions for both of them, and a plate mostly steak for Hibari and a fourth more evenly portioned that must be for the Prefect’s mother) when there’s a knock on the door, and his lips twitch. he’d half expected Hibari to arrive via the window. “I’ll get that, Tsu.”

he bows to the woman on the other side of their front door; her resemblance to Hibari himself, and to the pictures he’d seen of pre-curse Fon, was striking enough that she has to be Hibari’s mother, and then Hibari himself. it felt awkward, but the Prefect was a traditionalist, which probably meant she was too, and some of the things Takeshi had said earlier were still bouncing around in his head alongside Tsu’s mention of her husband. “You don’t need to stand on tradition, Gokudera-chan; you are companion and Guardian to my son’s Sky.” He’d take umbrage, but she turns to her son, and the next words out of her mouth make him want to giggle. “You’ve bitten plenty of people this evening, Kyō-chan; while I’m not going to insist on public manners, please be civil to your Sky and your fellow Guardian.” He backs up, and they both toe off their shoes. “Oh, you spoil us,” he can actually hear the stumbling awkward pause where she chooses not to use Tsu’s surname, and she’s a politician’s wife through and through, “Tsunayoshi-sora.”

“Tsuna-chan is fine, Hibari-san, if you’re going to call Hibari-senpai Kyō-chan in front of me. Just please not Tsu-chan, or Sawada-chan.” his Tsu smiles. “I made a lot more hamburger steak than Haya and I could possibly eat between us earlier. I thought I was going to freeze it for later, but apparently my intuition is getting more active. Or more useful, possibly?” the last is mumbled under his Tsu’s breath, but he’s in a room with three Cloudy-types.

“Kasumi, please, Tsuna-chan. And the hamburger steak looks _delicious_.” the four of them settle easily into seiza, and he discreetly ignores the minor blood stains on both outfits; the two Hibari ‘felt’ pleased and sated, like a pair of giant hunting cats. “Mmm. Kyō-chan, do I need to call my Kusakabe-chan to help Tetsuya with the clean up?”

There’s an almost inaudible “Hn”, and she smiles.

“You’re an _excellent_ cook, Tsuna-chan. And the Sky Flames in the food are very _soothing_ after a good fight. Almost as good as Tsuyoshi’s special sushi is for unwinding from summit negotiations.” his Tsu squeaks. he hadn’t even registered the presence of Flames in his food, but it makes sense, sort of. “Don’t worry, Tsuna-chan. It just means you were happy cooking. In another situation though, I’d probably offer to sponsor you to one of the schools in Kobe, Osaka, or Tokyo, because you could make a career of food this good, if you wanted to.”

his Tsu blushes, and smiles. “If I weren’t who I am, I think I’d have loved that.”

when they’re gone, and he’s coaxed his Tsu back to bed again, there’s a certain amount of incoherent squeaking, and his Tsu buries himself under him. “She travels internationally, Haya. Eats food at the best restaurants in the world, and she praised my cooking. I was just cooking. Why did she praise Dame-Tsuna, Haya?”

he pulls his Tsu even closer to him, and kisses his forehead. “That’s one of those landmines they planted in your head, Tsu. You enjoy cooking and it shows. Just keep enjoying it, and don’t worry about it. And it’s probably just as well you can cook, sweetheart. I know I can’t safely, and Takeshi's admitted he burns water, and can you see ‘Kyō-chan’ cooking?” his Tsu giggles and shakes his head. “So there you go. Built-in appreciative audience, Tsu. Take it as a license to have fun in the kitchen and ignore that mean voice, ’kay?”

“Might have to ask you to remind me of that, Haya.” oh, he will. even after his Tsu doesn't need it any -


	9. Chapter 9

he mumbles something incoherent into his Tsu’s hair when the daylight finally registers. “Dad sent me over for more control practise.” he makes another incoherent sound, and throws a pillow in the direction of the yakyuu-baka’s voice. “Haha! That almost hit me.” the pillow is put back on the bed, and there’s a tug on the blankets.

“How the hell did you get in, yakyuu-baka?” The door was locked. The _windows_ were locked. He had the apartment _coated_ in his Flames, for fuck’s sake!

“Maa, maa. My old man keeps grumbling about my knack for breaking into the restaurant cold room?” he loses the battle over the blankets, but retains the top sheet, and his Tsu burrows into him. 

“Why m’I cold, Haya?”

“We’ve got an Electric brat in the room.” Takeshi sticks out his tongue at him, and he narrows his eyes in return. and he grins when Takeshi yelps, the static charge entirely unexpected. 

“Not the only one, apparently, baka-dera.”

“Either give the blankets back, Takeshi, or get out so we can get dressed. If neither happens in the next two minutes, I get you _completely_ Flame drunk, and then hand you to Hibari-senpai.” he wants to giggle. he really does, even if the idea of fighting ‘Kyo-chan’ Flame drunk is terrifying. “And Hibari-senpai is likely cranky because he was biting idiots to death at three am this morning with Hibari-san.” 

“Coming back in if it takes more than five minutes.” Takeshi’s expression - oh merciful Mother Mary, the idiot thought they were naked and hadn’t cleaned up properly under the sheet. and had just assumed that they’d get ‘distracted’ and he was going to _shake_ the Electric-Misty idiot until his sense reappeared!

“Hiiieee, Takeshi, we haven’t _got that far yet_!” the expression shifts to slightly guilty, and a little bit disappointed, and he really, really wants to face-palm. “Out!”

“I see why Tsuyoshi is asking for training suggestions for him.” he murmurs the statement into his Tsu’s hair. “He’s really being influenced by his minor Flames at the moment.”

“Oh? Is this another of those things Reborn ‘forgot’ to explain?” 

“Mhmm. None of it’s _fixed_ , but all Flame Users can go a bit odd if they don’t keep an eye on themselves? Storms have short fuses, Rains get maudlin, Lightnings get Fixated, Clouds are anti-social and violently protective, Suns are hyperactive wrecking balls, and Mists are manipulative and voyeuristic; Skies are rare enough that no one tries to stereotype them so much as shove them into leadership roles even when they’re not suited. Yakyuu-baka’s suffering from all three of his Flame-type’s worst tendencies. Miura being a Lightning explains her insistence on marrying you, too.”

* * *

He yawns sleepily, and looks down at the small carnivore that’s sat cross-legged across the roof from him. “Not-Shifu was hunting last night?”

“Hn.” He yawns again, showing his teeth, and his uncle’s baby-carnivore laughs and flares her own Flames at him. “Should I invite you to the next hunt, little carnivore?”

“I-Pin guarding Fuuta.” He sits up and stretches, and his mother had been right; the little animal’s food had been very _soothing_ this morning. He normally aches more after a sustained fight at the level of the one he and his Kaa-chan had had in the early hours. “I-Pin came looking for not-Shifu because I-Pin worried about Tsuna-nii. Mama not noticed Tsuna-nii gone, but I-Pin has, and Reborn and Tsuna-nii not been home since Sunday noon.”

“Hn. The little animal has a new den, and the false-carnivore has been taken to see your Shifu’s Sky, I-Pin. Kaa-chan would like to see you.”

“I-Pin relieved. Tsuna-nii denning with Gokudera-san or Takeshi-nii?”

“The wildcat - Gokudera. Don’t disturb them. The little animal especially needs time away.”

“I-Pin won’t. Is Shifu coming to town soon?”

“Kaa-chan said she would talk to her nii-san.” The little carnivore bounces, and as much as he occasionally _hates_ his uncle, he would have to try and remember that Fon was the nearest thing I-Pin had to a father.

“Did not-Shifu remember to tidy up?” The little carnivore squints at him, and he laughs in amusement and holds out an arm to her.

“Kusakabe is very well trained, little carnivore. He and his kaa-san will have taken some of them for interrogation, and the others have been disposed of. They even cleaned up the bloodstains.” She jumps up onto the offered arm, and walks up it to balance on his shoulder. He carries her weight easily, and wanders slowly in the direction of the compound he and his mother shared on her rare ventures back to Namimori. (When his father came, too, they booked out a hotel suite; his father isn’t as good as his mother is at dealing with his Cloudy nature, and hasn’t been able to face him in a fair fight and win since he was I-Pin’s age.)

* * *

“So. Does that make sense?” The question is rather rhetorical; Tsuna and Hayato both have their Flames dancing over their hands. Hayato’s Flames are a rich red with streaks of other colours, the most dominant being a lovely purple but all of them had only become apparent when he’d looked ‘properly’, and he can see how people would have mistaken him for a pure Storm. Especially given his temper. 

“Mostly. Not sure it’s a _complete_ explanation, Takeshi-kun, but hmm, it’s like there’s something I can’t put my finger on?” Tsuna bites his bottom lip, and it’s adorable. “I think that’s the intuition I’m supposed to have speaking though? Which I rather like now it’s stopped shrieking the whole time. Was so bad I didn’t even realise I had a headache till it was gone …” He winces and makes a mental note to mention that to his old man.

“Probably. Dad said that Skies could be really uncanny at times. Now. Try modulating your Flames, Tsuna-kun; Hayato-kun and I have our rings on and are prepared so we _should_ be okay. I think. If we seem drunk, just reign your Flame in and we can sleep it off on the couch.”

“ _You_ can sleep it off on the couch yakyuu-baka, _I’ll_ take my Tsu to bed and cuddle him.” He pouts at Hayato, but given the way the Flames coating his hands shade purple, he doesn’t press his luck.

“Haya, he’s not doing it deliberately, and he’s not interested in that.”

“Che.”

Tsuna shakes his head, and then the low-level Sky Flame pressure vanishes briefly before escalating and then levelling off at a point where he can just about think, and Hayato has his eyes shut breathing carefully, and muttering some sort of mantra to himself.

“Now rein them back in again, Tsuna-kun, and then do it again, and I think that’s going to be enough practise - and you’ll need to eat something, too. We all should.” It takes serious willpower to ignore the urge to curl up and cuddle his Sky, and oh. Stupid Takeshi. There was a reason that was all he wanted to do, and it makes his heart _ache_. “Hayato-kun, you need to cuddle Tsuna-kun even more. If that’s possible?” He grins as Hayato promptly pulls Tsuna into his lap and the urge to curl up with him too fades a bit. 

“We’re jumping about four lessons, but given what just happened, you need to hear this, I think. And no, Tsuna-kun, you’re not bad for doing this. If anyone’s bad it’s Reborn for not teaching you control, and you should probably ask Dino for help as he’s also a Sky and he might know some neat tricks that’ll help. But you’re bleeding your cravings into your Flames, and well, if we’re _yours_ , we want you content and at harmony? I think I’m fumbling the explanation, but.” Hayato squeaks and blushes slightly, but Tsuna just nods, and snuggles into Hayato a little bit more which was seriously adorable. “Okay, that’s just cute. And as long as I get to bask in your Flames, Tsuna-kun, I’m entirely up for guarding the roof door so you can snuggle like that at lunchtime at school.” He shakes his head and gets his thoughts back vaguely on track. “Anyway. If you really, really want something, on a bone-deep or subconscious level, your Flames are a manifestation of your Will, and that need can kind of get tangled in them. I’m not talking ‘I want a piece of candy’ but more, ‘I’m ravenous and need to eat something _now_ ’ only multiplied tenfold.”

Hayato makes a sound, and he watches the two of them for a moment; Tsuna presses a finger to the Storm’s lips. “Not his fault we know what gnawing hunger feels like, Haya. Tsuyoshi’s a far better parent than either of us have ever had. Heck, Shamal’s a better parent than any of our blood ones are, and the most he does is feed you, patch you up and throw you back in the deep end again.”

Oh. Shit. He’d seen Shamal and Hayato’s interactions. If that was the closest to an _actual_ parent either of them had had … “Mom _tried_. If she’d run with me, he’d have hunted her down and taken me anyway, Tsu.” Hayato tilts his head and _looks_ at him, and he shuts his eyes. He missed his own mom and her absence _hurt_ , but his old man had _always_ been there for him, and Hayato hadn’t even had that.

“She could have _tried_ to run.”

“I think that’s why he had her killed, Tsu. Some of the stuff Shamal’s said makes me think she was going to try and run with me.” He winces and lets himself fade, concentrating on the tranquil property of his Rain Flame, and his dad’s trick, because Tsuna and Hayato were bleeding out more of their pain, and he didn’t want them to stop on his account. Maybe if he heard it, he could figure out how to be a better Rain for Tsuna. Wasn’t a Sky’s Rain supposed to soothe hurts? But to do that, he needed to know what he was soothing. (And perhaps who he’d need to kill quietly when he followed Tsuna to Italy in a year or two.)

“Oh, Haya.” The weight of Sky Flames rises again, caressing his skin, and he recognises the comfort being offered isn’t for him. “Yes, Lavina may have tried, but your ‘father’ and his wife were shitty human beings. Kaa-san does well enough with small children - or at least small children as hardy as I-Pin and Lambo are - but well, she didn’t do very well when I got older, and the less said about Himself, the _better_.” Killing Iemitsu was going to take a little more planning than Hayato’s father, he suspects. Or he’d need to share his target with one of his senpai, maybe? The two of them are completely tangled up in each other now, giving and receiving comfort, and he’s more than a little bit envious. There’s a choked giggle from Tsuna, and a mumbled: “We can always kill them. Assassination seems to be a very mafia solution to our problem. Isn’t that what Xanxus tried to do? He’d probably have hysterics if I did the same thing.”

He blinks. His old man had discussed the tendencies of Rains to drift into assassination, that death always seemed like an appropriate solution to any given problem, and that he’d have to work not to reach for his sword, but after everything Tsuna had said, his protests against it all, he was actually sort of relieved that his Sky was coming to accept the things that would be necessary.

“Can’t kill them yet, Tsu. He still has Mom’s body and not even Shamal knows where he buried her. Iemitsu is too involved with the Ninth Generation to be able to get away with his death either; your Jii-san will stop cooperating if we make that sort of move too early. Later we can talk about it, but actually killing them might have to wait til you’re actually in power.” Oh. Well, there goes that plan. Maybe a coup? He’d have to taunt Squalo into telling him why their coup had failed, so they avoided the Varia’s mistakes.

But he could think about that later. He saw three more boxes of his dad’s udon in the fridge, and he could at least use a microwave.

* * *

The elevator drops, and Hayato’s fingers twitch, and he tilts his head thoughtfully. “You know, Nezu lives on the tenth floor of one of the blocks down town, and I don’t think he takes the stairs, if his complaining at school is anything to go by.” He can tell that Hayato’s not quite following him. “You’re the one who said he’d been _inspired_ by one of their episodes, Haya.”

“Oh. _Oh_. You mean -”

“Mhmm. Bet we can figure out how to adapt their methods to kill Nezu, and it would just look like an equipment failure. Do Storm Flames just make things ‘vanish’, or are their effects more subtle?”

“Not sure, but we could experiment in the school lab? I take it you were thinking about metal fatigue, Tsu?” He smiles, and by Haya’s face it’s got far too many teeth and an unsettling glint in his eyes.

“But of course.”

* * *

“Dad, how do you start planning a coup?” He twitches.

“Generally I prefer not needing to, Takeshi. It’s how I ended up in Namimori again after your mother’s death.” He frowns. Why is his son thinking about starting a coup?

“I thought mom died in an accident?”

“She did. Just - I was away on a contract when she died, and your grandparents tried to take you, and your grandfather is not a pleasant man. I had two choices; a coup, which in a way was what they wanted, or take you and leave. I seriously considered the first option, but raising you well was more important to me. They hadn’t wanted her when she refused to deliberately activate her Flames, barely tolerated it when I courted her, and I refused to let them raise you in her stead. You would have been their trophy. You’re the last remaining Asari, Takeshi, but I wouldn’t let them use you like that. You’re my son before the Asari heir, and Eiko felt the same way; I had nearly talked her into moving back here with me, had negotiated with Kasumi for the Hibari’s protection if they tried to follow, and -” he trails off, and his boy looks calculating for a moment.

“Do you think they had her killed?”

“They were probably trying to force her Active.” He sees the moment Takeshi realises that he hadn’t said _no_. “They’re both dead. Kasumi objected to them trying to take a piece of her territory, and an enraged Cloud is very, very dangerous, ‘Keshi.”

“Hayato’s dad had his mom killed.” Ah. He wondered what had set his boy off. “And both he and Tsuna know what _real_ hunger feels like, and how could Nana _do_ that to Tsuna, Dad?” He’s not surprised that his son’s anger is on his Sky and his Sky’s partner’s behalf, but that worried him more, because it meant that his son was considering putting himself up against the Vongola Ninth and his Guardians. “And how could Iemitsu Seal Tsuna?” He shudders. It was Iemitsu’s idea to Seal his own son? His own, _active_ son? Without checking for Guardian bonds? Does he know what that would have done, what it _did_ to his son and Kyōya-kun? Of course not. The man never thought of anything but himself, and probably never will.

“Sawada Iemitsu is broken, I think. There isn’t a better explanation. I didn’t see that he’d done it because Sealing is so very taboo that I didn’t think to look for it, ‘Keshi. But it explains a great deal, including at least some of your melancholy, and Kyōya-kun’s vicious territoriality. Once you’re a Guardian, you need your Sky to balance you; their presence unlocks _all_ of your potential. Without them, well, widowed Guardians don’t last very long, ‘Keshi. You and Kyōya-kun were very lucky.”

* * *

he wraps one hand around Haya’s wrist and tows him the short distance from the school lab building towards one of the side entrances to the Hibari compound. one of the DC members - an older teen, with the pompadour and armband but not wearing a Nami-chuu or Nami-kōko uniform - is guarding the small gate, and bows to them before leading them into the compound. “Haya, why are you being so twitchy?”

“Because we’re about to discuss an assassination with the wife of a cabinet minister, Tsu!”

“… who we ate food with at 3 AM because she’d been hunting mafioso in our neighbourhood.”

“Good point.”

“And she’s my Cloud’s mother, and he’s _just_ like her.” he feels Haya’s resistance fold. 

“Tsuna-sora, Hayato-chan! What brings you to my son’s compound?”

“Need permission to damage Hibari-senpai’s territory to deal with a parasite, Kasumi-san.” and there’s Kyōya’s bloodthirstiness; it’s in the way her Flames light up at the statement.

“That sounds like a _fascinating_ conversation. I’ll send for refreshments, and find my silly carnivore of a son. Please, make yourselves comfortable, and don’t worry about the staff; they’re Kyōya’s to their bones.” which is oddly reassuring, especially when a minute or so after Kasumi vanishes a procession of staff bring in a full tea service and what looks like a fairly substantial meal. (none of the staff blink at their presence, or the way he’s still holding on to his Haya, soothing both of them.)

Kyōya folds himself into seiza and pours tea for all five of them before anything’s said (Kusakabe had trailed Kyōya into the room, and when he’d gone to kneel by the door, his Cloud had simply raised an eyebrow, and then the older teen had joined them.) “Hn. I thought I’d given you permission to deal with the insect, Omnivore.”

He picks up one of the onigiri and nibbles at it carefully, giving himself an extra moment to frame his thoughts properly. Kyōya could be very _particular_. “Haya and I have an idea to deal with the parasite, but in order to make him our prey, we need to damage a bit of territory. An elevator and a shaft in his building.”

“That would be the eleven-floor three and a half blocks west of the department store?” the question came from Kusakabe, and he nodded in answer; Nezu regularly boasted about his city-style apartment. “It has a service elevator; one of the residents will require assistance given her infirmities, but that can be managed by the junior members of the committee, Kyōya-sama.”

“Now I am _very_ curious, Tsuna-sora. Given I am responsible at times for the safety of senior Diet members, how are you planning to kill the parasite? I may be able to smooth out the plan a little.”

Haya pulls him into his lap and he snuggles against his Storm’s shoulder, keeping the skin of his face away from his Haya’s neck. “We’re planning to drop the elevator from Nezu’s floor - with him in it. We’ve done stress-tests on metal using Storm Flames and we can do it without suggesting sabotage or needing Mist.” his Haya’s voice is strong and steady, with no trace of his previous nervousness.

“Oh, that’s evil. I like it; I think I’ll have to stay in town and extra day or three, Kyōya; I need to inspect the wreckage to ensure that I can combat the technique and tell Fon-nii how it works. He collects new ways of using Storm Flames, and that will appeal to him.” his Haya’s heartbeat goes from calm to ragged, and he’s not quite sure why. 

“Haya?” his Storm doesn’t answer, hyperventilating slightly instead.

“Hayato-chan, Fon is my older brother; to me he’s just Fon-nii, not one of the Cursed Ones.” Haya’s still hyperventilating, and he tries to wriggle out of his lap to offer his own, but Haya won’t let him go and he starts to panic now, remembering his so-called father’s smothering arms.

“Haya. Haya, let me go!” he squirms against the arms banding his chest. “Haya, I’m scared!”

the tight arms release abruptly, and he scrambles out of Haya’s lap. his Storm refuses to meet his eyes, and he desperately tries to calm his breathing down so he can help his Haya.

“You’re both safe. I promise you. Tsuna-chan, how do you soothe one of your Haya’s anxiety attacks?” the calm words - that has to be Kasumi’s ‘politician’s wife’ tone - cut through and let him concentrate, and when Kasumi asks Haya almost the same question: “Hayato-chan, what’s the best way for your Tsu to calm down?” his panicking Storm’s breathing eases, too.

they end up pressed together, side-to-side, cups of tea occupying their hands, and Kasumi’s Flames have a lethal edge to them - but one aimed outwards, and he hiccups a giggle. “Is this what having responsible adults is supposed to feel like?” Kasumi raises an eyebrow and there’s some sort of silent conversation between her and Kyōya and Kusakabe, but he’s too busy petting his Storm’s Flames (or at least that’s how he thinks of what he’s doing) to try and translate, or even to peek at the elegant but surprisingly speedy writing Kusakabe is engaged in.

Kusakabe hands both sheets of paper, covered in incredibly neat kana and kanji, to Kasumi who reads them quickly and then hands them back. “Your kaa-chan knows where my Touma’s Seal is; have her check for any errors either of us might have missed, and I’ll file it with the others in the morning.” Haya’s breathing eases, and Kasumi smiles at them both. “Have you considered the elevator inspection records in your plan, Hayato-chan?” he winces - they hadn’t. “It’s easily remedied. The book you need to be concerned about should be in the plant room, and if you can fatigue steel, I assume you can remove ink, ne? I’ll remove the other copy in the morning; I need to file a number of documents, and the clerk always gets nervous when I’m in. I think he’s worried if he doesn’t get it right, I’ll let Touma-chan do it.”

“Ah, Kasumi-san, what were those documents?”

“Your emancipation papers. Kyō-chan’s minions had the necessary evidence, and this way no-one can force you back to your ‘mother’s’ house, Tsuna-chan.” she uses the English word, and the edge on it almost makes him want to defend his Kaa-san, but Kasumi continues, her voice softer. “I-Pin had a lot to say about her, Tsuna-chan; most of it wasn’t very complimentary, and what was - well, I’ll be taking careful steps to get the others out of the house. Did you know that I-Pin is actually on assignment? I’m going to be having a long conversation with my big brother about that; she’s a little older than she looks, but he should have informed Kyō-chan that she was guarding young Fuuta.” while the older Cloud has been speaking, Kusakabe - with a skill that says he drafts (or forges) official documents far more often than a teenager should - had written out a third document, which he now passes to Kasumi. “This one you should take a few days to think about, Tsuna-chan, but I’d be honored if you’d choose Hibari as your new family name.” 

those _aren’t_ tears. they _**aren’t**_ , and his Haya pulls him back into his lap and hugs him carefully. “You _want_ Dame-Tsuna?!” he mumbles the words disbelievingly.

there’s a hiss from Kasumi, and the flame pressure in the room soars from two angry Clouds, but all he can do is curl into his Haya. “Nami-chuu does not need two-thirds of its student population culled, Kyōya-sama. I have, however already drawn up an enhanced disciplinary plan that coincidentally will make it very hard for the worst culprits to manage to obtain high school places, let alone anything else.” Kusakabe’s voice is level and controlled.

“Hn.”

“I think my Touma-chan may be about to persuade the head of the Ministry of Education to launch a new initiative.” there’s a sort of vicious satisfaction to both sets of Cloud Flames that confuses him, and he curls into his Haya even more tightly.

“As much as I’m enjoying the idea of terrorising Tsu’s tormentors, you’re scaring him, I think?” he nods against Haya’s shoulder, and the flame pressure instantly throttles back, and it’s easier to breathe. “Tsu, love, what set that off?”

“‘trusive thought about bein’ Dame-Tsuna. And the Flames weren’t the same, but Papa -” he waves the hand not clinging on to his Haya, and there’s the sounds of deliberate I’m-controlling-my-emotions breathing from Kasumi, and he gives in and cries again, sobs into his Haya’s shoulder, and the room goes quiet and his ears ring with his hiccuping.

“Tetsu-chan, please go and get blankets from the blanket chest. Kyō-chan, more hot water and some camomile from the kitchens, please. Haya-chan, are you going to be okay holding Tsuna-chan for now?” he feels his Haya’s nod, but now he’s given into the tears he can’t stop, and Kasumi-san was being so gentle about this and he was so confused. “Tsuna-chan, I’m not going to apologise for being a crabby Cloud; it’s in my nature, and given my Kyō-chan could be my gender-swapped clone, you can guess what I’m like when I have no filters, but I am going to apologise for scaring you, and for letting myself sink into my Flames that way. I have more self-control than that; I have to given my Touma-chan’s career. That said, none of my rage was directed at you, and this is a perfectly reasonable response to everything you’ve gone through. I’ve read the notes that my Kyō-chan’s minions made, and I have the training to see the whole picture, unlike my darling little carnivore. And what I saw isn’t a very pretty picture.” he hiccups and scrubs his face against his Haya. one of the other two returns to the room, and it must have been Kusakabe because there’s a blanket being wrapped gently around both of them. “No parent should forget they have a child, sweetheart. Ravenous hunger is not something that a child should know, nor should it take another child ruthlessly ruling a school to stop the worst of the mistreatment.” his Haya is shaking too, and he lifts his head, worried he’s going to start crying again, but needing to know that his Haya was okay.

“There aren’t any street children in Namimori, and no-one protested my age when I searched for an apartment and a job.” his Haya’s words don’t make sense, but Kasumi’s Flames feel _pleased_.

“We are the Hibari of Namimori, Haya-chan. Why would we let anyone go without food or shelter within our lands? We have honor still, and to do otherwise would tarnish that honor.” the words have a ring of bone-deep truth to them, and that being the ‘ideology’ his Cloud had been raised with made so much sense of Kyōya-san. “If you had been a little less proud, Haya-chan, there would have been more help offered, but my own Kusakabe couldn’t figure out how to get you to accept it, and Nezu wasn’t doing his part, and -.” his Haya buries his head in his hair, and rocks, and one hand buries itself in his hair, too, as Kasumi trailed off, instead picking up the fresh teapot Kyōya-san had brought from the kitchens, and pouring them each a cup. “Kyō-chan, please have one of the cars brought round; I believe that Haya-chan and Tsuna-chan will most comfortable in their own apartment, but perhaps you should join them? I’m told by my second cousin that quiet time with one’s Guardians is very soothing for a Sky, and you have far more self-control than the young Asari you share your duties with.”

“Hn.” acknowledgement; agreement. Kyōya-san’s sounds are actually surprisingly comprehensible, at least without the ringing headache making it hard to think, and his Cloud vanishes from the room again. he returns several minutes later in a comfortable and well-worn yukata. “The car will be a few minutes, Kaa-chan.”

“Mhmm. Why don’t you take the smaller of the two Sky-sealed containers with you, Kyō-chan. I think the three of you may find the contents interesting, if I’m remembering the codex entry correctly.” she unfolds herself, and rises from the table smoothly. “Tetsu-chan, could you please ask your mother to attend me in the garden? I will need her help with a number of things, including a visit by my Touma-chan, and hmm, a visit from the tailor, I think.”

* * *

The little animal is worrying him. He is not responding to anyone and will not let anyone but his Storm near him. He had looked to his Kaa-chan, but she had shaken her head, and mouthed ‘emotions’ at him, which he did not really understand. His emotions are simple things, as easily handled as hunger is; anger means someone needs to be bitten; unhappiness means someone needs bitten; happiness means someone has already been bitten and now he needs a nap. (His Kaa-chan had laughed when he described them that way, but hadn’t explained why things were so funny.) At least the wildcat was not panicking any more; his anxiety had been grating on his senses. The pheromones made his nose itch.

“Hn.” The wildcat glares at him, and he unbends enough for actual words. “The car is outside, and if you use your Flames, the little animal will be easier to move.”

“Che.” He makes an amused sound. Apparently the wildcat can do non-word communication too, and he demonstrates the method he uses to increase his strength and trusts that the ‘cat will pick it up. (He has seen the wildcat’s transcripts and in different circumstances he would have insisted the ‘cat go to the High School; but he had seen his uncle’s colleague lurking, and the man was not discreet about why he was present, so he had allowed the wildcat’s presence in the little animal’s classroom.)

The use of his Cloud Flames seems to be trickier for the wildcat, but he is indeed successful and he follows the wildcat, now carrying the little animal, out to the vehicle, and glares the driver - one of his older Disciplinary Committee members, a banchou he had bitten into submission - into silence. Inane chatter makes his head ache, and while he could stop enhancing his senses, that would leave him feeling vulnerable to attack. The little animal curls into his wildcat the moment they’re both in the car, and he allows himself to contemplate the cuteness briefly before a sharp ‘hn’ to the driver has the car in motion.

He follows the wildcat up to his flat and fishes the keys out of the indicated pocket. When the offer is made to pick something out from the bookshelf, he approves. Even if he finds nothing, it’s hospitality. The apologies for not making tea immediately also gain his approval, as does the permission to make his own.

Oh, this is one he has not read in a while. The battles were fascinating. Well worth another read.


	10. Chapter 10

Tsu won’t let go of him, so he has Kyōya fish his keys out of his pocket and let them all in. “I’m going to go get us both into something more comfortable. I’ll be out soon. The shelf next to the windows has all my Japanese books if you want to look through it. Sorry for not making tea, but Tsu is a bit more important to me. Feel free to make your own.”

“Hn.” his Tsu is right - that one sound is more expressive than most people get with much longer sentences. he shakes his head, amused, and carries his Tsu into their bedroom.

“Tsu, love, we need to get into something a bit more comfortable. I need to put you down on the bed. Can you get into your yukata?” his Tsu just whines a bit as he’s set down and sits there blankly. he curses and quickly gets into his own yukata and sleep pants and turns back to his nearly-catatonic Tsu. his cheeks heat as he realises he’s going to have to undress Tsu himself; they’re really not ready for this but it’s the only way. Tsu won’t let Kyōya near him - they’d tried and it wasn’t pretty - so he was the only one who could get Tsu into more appropriate clothing. “Tsu, you need to stand up now.” Tsuna doesn’t move. “Sweetheart, please, I need a bit of help here.” when there’s no response, he sighs. “I’ll be right back. I -”

he turns, and a hand reaches out and grabs him, and he nearly shrieks, but it’s just his Tsu, pulling himself up and then plastering himself against his back. “Haya?” his Tsu’s voice sounds _broken_ and his Tsu’s arms wrap around him from behind, and Tsu rests his cheek against his shoulder blade.

“Shh, sweetheart. I’m here. Not going anywhere. Come on, let’s get you into your yukata.” his Tsu whines, but lets go of everything but his wrist. he can work with that, and does, but his Tsu shakes his head when he tries to tug his shirt off him, and he has to pull Tsu into his lap in order to get him to let go long enough for his shirt to be pulled off, and before he can do more than undo Tsu's belt (which makes him blush) Tsu twists, and he goes with the motion, and settles to petting his Tsu’s hair and enjoying the weight of him on his chest. (Tsu’s light enough that it doesn’t make him panic, and Tsu needs the comfort rather badly, judging by well, _everything_.)

he tries repeating the same things that earned him a melted Tsu last time; he doesn’t have a comb handy, but he does have his fingers, and Tsu’s hair is beautifully soft from the conditioner and he’s definitely done something right to judge by the very trusting puddle of Sky sprawled over his chest, already starting to purr. in a different situation, perhaps one where he and his Tsu weren’t _quite_ so damaged, he might roll them both over, and see what his Tsu thought about being kissed senseless, but that would probably be a bad idea, and his Tsu’s purring was very soothing for him, too.

“Feel better for that Tsu?” there’s a nod against his chest, the very soft hair tickling his nose and he sits them both back up again. “Can I help you put your yukata on, beautiful?” Tsu squeaks at the epithet. “You _are_ beautiful, Tsu, and I’ll spend the rest of the our lives telling you that.” the blush that spreads across his Tsu’s face makes him want to kiss Tsu again like he had before, but instead he settles for kissing his forehead.

“Is Kyō-nii -” his Sky tries out the new suffix, and the idea of anyone calling his Tsu’s terrifying Cloud brother should be even more terrifying, but coming from his Tsu it’s just adorable.

“He’s still here. Are you going to accept the offer, then, Tsu-mine?”

“I _think_ so? Japan’s really family-orientated, and there are advantages to having a strong family to lean back on. Not that it would have stopped me trying for emancipation, but it would have meant telling a judge about _everything_ , and simply being emancipated has its own set of disadvantages. Those would go away if we sheltered under Kasumi-san’s wings, Haya.”

“And they want you, Tsu. And not just as a trophy prize.” he kneels and unbuttons his Tsu’s pants, and shoves a thought about doing this, and easing his Tsu’s boxers down, too, and sucking his Tsu’s cock (he wonders what it’ll taste like, what it’ll feel like on his tongue and how his Tsu will react to him humming; he might not have actually been a rent boy, but he’d listened to the fireflies on the streets, and knew intellectually how to do it) into a tiny box and locks it before he can listen to that thought and do something both he and his Tsu will regret. probably. the close proximity to Tsu’s groin makes his cock twitch, and he flushes (because part of his brain notes that his Tsu is nicely proportioned _all_ over), and has to talk himself through pushing his Tsu’s pants off his (too-sharp) hips and then lifting his Tsu’s feet one at a time to finish pulling them off.

it takes him a moment to make himself stand back up again; a bit of his head _really_ likes the idea of kneeling for his Tsu, and his Tsu is also blushing incredibly hard, and it’s _very_ cute.

“They _do_ want me, don’t they?” his Tsu seems almost reluctant to affirm that, but when he manages to spit it out, his Flames ripple with confused happiness. “They _want_ me. Kyō-nii would have bitten me to death if he didn’t want me too, wouldn’t he?” he eases his Tsu into his yukata, wrapping it around the too-thin body.

he has to snort at that. “Yeah, probably.” he sighs as Tsu leans back into him after he ties the obi. “You know _I_ want you, right, Tsu-mine?”

his Tsu nods. “Easier to remember that. Can feel you -” his Tsu touches his own heart, “- here, know you’re mine as much as I’m yours, but the words take _believing_ for everyone else? ‘specially for adults. Even jii-san only wants me because he decided Xanxus-san wasn’t ‘good’ enough.”

“Well, then, let’s go see your new brother. I can’t wait to see his expression when you call him ‘Kyō-nii’ to his face.” he’s smiling; he has a better handle on the demon-Prefect now they’ve fought properly, and Kyōya would love his new little brother.

they emerge out into the living area, and Kyōya is lounging - how he manages to be elegant while doing so, he’s not entirely sure - on the now spare folded futon, reading what looks like his Japanese-language copy of the Two Towers. the Cloud looks up, and the smile is on the very soft side for the Cloud, and his Tsu flushes. “Hn. From you, otouto, Kyō-nii is more than acceptable.” his Tsu squeaks again, and that sound is too cute for words. he half expects the Cloud to coo, but instead Kyōya returns to his reading, and he coaxes Tsu down onto the couch and opens his laptop and sets Mythbusters playing. (with the Italian subtitles on because his Tsu shivers so delightfully when he murmurs in his ear, and his Tsu had been insistent that Kyōya didn’t count as people.)

* * *

“- you are a _menace_ , Asari no Yamamoto Takeshi.” He looks up from where he’s sat on the floor of the cold room, sorting through the cans of soda looking for the one he wanted. “I locked that door, but you just don’t notice that, do you?”

“Um? Maybe? I wanted in and the door opened for me. I stay away from the fish, but we’re out of soda upstairs -”

His father rolls his eyes at him, and offers him a hand up. “I want you to show me how you’re doing that. I thought I’d used the appropriate protections to stop you using any of the standard techniques - either with or without your Flames - on the lock.”

“Are you sure you didn’t just leave the door unlocked, Dad?”

“Very.” His tou-san closes the cold room door, and it screeches the way it always does when his father does that, then locks it, checks the lock, and does something with his Flames. “Just do whatever it is that you keep doing every time you open a door you know that you shouldn’t be opening.” He’s tempted to stick his tongue out at his tou-san, but he refrains, and puts his hand on the door handle and pushes the door the same way as he always does and it swings open noiselessly. “Oh Eiko was _right_. The lore _does_ cause us to self-limit, though you must also have an impossibly strong Will, Takeshi; I doubt Miura-chan could replicate what you just did, and her Lightning is in the eightieth percentile strength wise..”

“Maa, maa.” He rubs at the back of his head, slightly lost.

“It’s commonly accepted that the properties of Flames work in a specific way. You seemed to have accidentally proved that wrong, Takeshi, so I’ll refrain from doing more than showing you the control exercises that work for me and watching as you practise so you don’t over-extend yourself. Shigure Soen Ryuu does require some standard forms, but I suspect you’ll outgrow His restrictions fast enough.” He’s not entirely sure that he was supposed to hear the last comment. “Go and drill in the dojo, Takeshi. I need to consider the letters I received, and you need to work on your awareness of your own Flames. The restrictions on the dojo will help with that.”

* * *

“Hn.” The sword-herbivore moves through the fourth form of his sword-school, Rain Flames flowing soothingly about him in the dojo. He’d used the space himself in the past; what he now recognised as the protections on it made it easier to meditate and he’d really struggled with that when he was younger.

The sword-herbivore looks up and spots him, and he revises the Rain’s designation when he sees that _very_ toothy smile. “Oh! Hi, senpai. Shouldn’t you be at Nami-chuu?”

“Hn.”

“True. I suppose with Tsuna not there and in need of protecting from bullies, Kusakabe is enough to maintain order.”

“Hn.” He’s mildly impressed by the fact that the sword-carnivore is successfully translating, and wonders if he’ll catch the rest of the details.

“Mhmm. Yes, Kusakabe is best placed to introduce a new disciplinary policy, you’d terrify people too much to listen to the new rules, senpai.” He rewards the sword-carnivore with another toothy smile of his own.

“Hn.”

“Not in here, senpai. Pops will _kill_ me if I damage the dojo, and I’m not sure it would take you throwing me into a wall, and it certainly won’t take you throwing me through the screen doors.” He drops down and walks out the door, knowing the sword-carnivore would follow. There was a more suitable place for them to test their teeth on in the woods, and it would be a rare civilian who would find them there. (His new otouto would manage it, as would his otouto’s den-mate. The pineapple was less likely. His Kusakabe would be able to, too, but his Kusakabe was a Kusakabe.)

He spins and draws his tonfa the moment he sets foot in the training grounds, and he entirely approves of how smoothly the sword-carnivore moves into a defensive position, and then at the way the sword-carnivore uses his Flames with the blade, which ‘feels’ like one of the canisters he’d held back from being returned to storage. He ends up soaked from head to toe, and grinning in a way he rarely did while still fighting. There was a ragged edge to the sword-carnivore’s techniques, the sword-carnivore obviously not used to fighting non-swordsmen and there was no killing intent there at all, even when he wielded his own against the sword-carnivore. Just curiosity and rapidly improving technique; the sword-carnivore even uses one of his own signature moves, modified for his blade, against him, and he narrows his eyes. That spoke of a deeper understanding of his blade and the technique to use it than had been demonstrated during the Ring Battles when his sword-carnivore had faced the monkey-king’s sword-herbivore.

He hisses in delight when the sword that his sword-carnivore carries bites into his flesh. The pain is sharp and good and clean, and it’s easy enough to knit his flesh back together again before the sword-carnivore can flinch and panic at the damage he’s just done. The momentary freeze allows him to get a blow in to his sword-carnivore’s stomach, and he wraps himself around the swordsman, tonfa to throat and stomach. It feels good. Too good. And it’s not the pleasure of a hard-fought battle won. It’s something else. He tilts his head; was this what Kaa-chan had meant about more complicated emotions? “Hn. You need to work on that, my sword-carnivore.” His sword-carnivore flushes, and without the distraction of trying to avoid the biting edge of his sword-carnivore’s blade, he can’t ignore the pheromones now leaking into the training area. He’d do something about that need - his sword-carnivore is attractive and capable of biting him - but even as he presses his erection into his sword-carnivore’s hip the other teen _freezes_ , and the pheromones go from aroused to panicked, and he releases him. The sword-carnivore bolts and he resists the temptation to hunt him down, then pounce and mount him. He needs to speak to his Kaa-chan, and perhaps the older sword-carnivore, the one who he allows to call him Kyōya-kun. (He had tried to bite the man, and instead of insisting that his Kaa-chan control him, had actually used a shinai to fend off his tonfa. He’d appreciated being taken semi-seriously by someone capable of wielding such strong killing intent.)

* * *

He panics. He’s not _ashamed_ of panicking; this is so far outside of his normal that running is about the only response that he can safely engage in. He’s never even been _interested_ before, and his cock was hard, and he’d had some _very_ vivid images of being under Kyōya, and he doesn’t understand what he’s feeling, or thinking, and he’s not entirely convinced he likes how his body feels right now, or the disappointment about the fact that Kyōya-senpai hadn’t given chase.

His tou-san is waiting for him at the back of the restaurant, and catches him up in a hug, and there’s murmured reassurances. “Oh, Takeshi, sweetheart. What happened?”

“Was fighting with Kyōya-senpai and my body _responded_.” The words are muffled against his dad’s shoulder. “Don’t know what to think, Dad, and I’m confused and I don’t think I like it and -” he took a deep breath. “But I was also almost _disappointed_ he didn’t come after me? I don’t understand.”

“Mmm. It sounds like an adrenaline thing, sweetheart. Fight, Flight, Freeze or _Fuck_. If he’s interested too, there’s nothing to stop you experimenting.” His cheeks heat. “I’ll give you some things to read, and you can think about what you want to do about it if it happens again.”

* * *

“Kaa-chan?” Her son’s stealth capabilities are improving, but she’d still felt him trying to sneak up on her.

“Yes, carnivore-mine?” He felt curious and frustrated, and somewhat aroused.

“My sword-carnivore ran away from me.” Her silly carnivore grumbles, and she wants to ruffle his hair. It’s adorable. “He was aroused, and he panicked and he ran from me.”

“Oh, Kyō-chan. Did you _ask_ him or verbalise anything?”

Her little carnivore’s eyes narrow. “No chance. He ran first.”

“Were you going to?” Her son _growls_ at her almost before she finishes the question.

“I would _never_! You taught me better, Kaa-chan.” Was that actual anger? Hurt? Her son had just described his co-guardian as ‘my sword-carnivore’.

“Then he may need some time to think about his own responses, Kyō-chan.” She knew what the issue was, but it was for Takeshi to explain to her Kyō-chan, not her. “Give him a day or two, and then see if he wants another sparring match. If he does, though, you do need to say more than ‘Hn’, silly boy.”

Her son scowls again. “He _understands_ my ‘Hns’ Kaa-chan.” She raises a delicately-arched, fine eyebrow. “He does. Responds with whole sentences. It was wonderful.” Oh, my. Her son sounds more than a little attached. Not even Tetsu-kun gets that response.

“Do I need to call your godfather, carnivore-mine?” Her Kyō-chan’s blush is adorable.

All she gets is a shake of his head, and a quiet, “Not yet, Kaa-chan.” Oh, that was very promising. She would have to have a conversation with Tsuyoshi about Imperial robes and dowries. She might even tease her adorable carnivore by leaving the paperwork for that out for him to find. She did have the neutral version, but the old contract for a Hibari-bride was somewhat hysterical, if _very_ reassuring given the times it had been used in. She’d have to use it as the basis to protect her sweet new Sky-son from his rather predatory Family; she’d also use the contracts that Giotto, who became Ieyasu had written up with the aid of his Cloud’s bride’s father. (It was a convoluted way of describing the relationship between the three men, but she didn’t have a better. Alaude had been a force of nature, as their change of clan name, and the acceptance of a gaijin’s blood in _that_ time period, demonstrated. To marry a Hibari heiress - an Imperial grand-daughter - should have been an impossible feat for a gaijin, but he’d managed it, and without the clan losing face.)

* * *

“Tsu?” his little brunet is waking up from his light doze - he’d drifted off without falling asleep about an hour before.

“We need to go and kill Nezu.”

“Not that I’m objecting, but why, Tsu?” he pets that soft hair, trying to offer his Tsu a bit of grounding.

“Want him gone before _he_ comes back, and I think it'll be by Monday.” they both shudder. Reborn would make things _complicated_. _He_ would both obstruct their effort and twist their plan so that Tsu would end up facing Nezu personally. It’s not the kind of thing his Tsu needs right now - he needs the comfort of having his own plan, his own way of doing this; being forced into using someone else’s plan, even or _especially_ while carrying out his own would just tear half the work they’d done on his love’s self-confidence and pride and calm acceptance to shreds.

“Then we’ll go and deal with the ‘parasite’, Tsu. We’ll need to drift past ‘her’ place for something more appropriate for you to wear, though. We’re going to need to wear something I can remove any grease-stains from, or people are going to put two and two together and get a result we don’t want.” His Tsu makes an unhappy sound in the back of his throat at that declaration. “I know. But if I have to ‘Storm’ away something, jeans and a heavy cotton hoodie stands up to it far better than something like what we’re wearing at the minute.”

He gets a pouty ‘fine’ from his Tsu, but keeps him close and keeps touching him all through their visit to ‘her’ house. He wrestles his Tsu’s hair (soft, but still spiky, and so very recognisable) under a knitted hat, and they’re as ready as they’re going to be for this, especially given this is his Tsu’s first kill.

* * *

He follows his Sky and his Sky’s Consort through his territory, and observes their self-appointed mission with amusement. He let out a soft ‘Wao’ at the business-like way his Sky’s consort works through the preliminaries, easing their shared Sky into the messy business of hunting those who would prey on the herbivores who deserved their protection.

The flare of Storm Flames that signals the completion of the first stage of his Sky and his Sky’s Consort’s plan is _very_ obvious to his acute senses. Nor does it take very long for them to reach the second stage of the plan; he smirks when he sees them walk out less than five minutes before the parasite returns to his building.

The crashing fall and the _thud_ that follows are thoroughly _satisfying_. The scream and the wet gasps of the parasite fading from life are amazing. He watches as the ambulance and the fire service and the police arrive, and drops down from the tree to walk past just as the body bag is brought out of the building. The parasite's corpse - the men carrying it think nothing of him inspecting it - is a delightful mess, very similar to the ones which his Kaa-chan had created, when she had disciplined the yakuza who had tried to move in on his territory before he’d been ready to defend it by himself.


	11. Chapter 11

He twitches and puts the knife down. Tsuna and Hayato have just crossed into the area he tends to monitor around his restaurant, and the young Sky feels _very_ distressed; when he steps out of the main door, he sees the young Storm carrying his Sky, the smaller boy’s head buried in one shoulder.

He hustles Hayato with his very precious cargo through the restaurant into the private accommodation. “What happened?” He doesn’t ask until he has his Rain Flames blanketing the two boys.

“First kill.”

“Ah. Nezu?” He can’t think of anyone else that young Tsunayoshi would actually have been willing to be involved with the death of in Namimori at this point. There were several people in Italy that he could see dying by his son’s tiny Sky’s hands, but here? There was only one that he could see making Tsunayoshi cross that particular personal line. Hayato nods. “We have a furo that you’re welcome to use, and it will probably help with Tsuna’s shock. Feel free to just put him in the tub - it’s about time to empty and clean it anyway.”

Hayato smiles at him, still looking worried, but thankful. “Thanks, Tsuyoshi. Could we get something quick to eat, something I can feed him, before that, though? I think Tsu’s going to crash physically once he’s coherent.”

“I’ll bring something up, and warn Takeshi off, Hayato. He’s in a funny mood; Kyōya-kun pushed his buttons and he found something out about himself he wasn’t expecting.”

Hayato sighs. “If he wants to just sit, send him in. It might help Tsu to have Guardians around. But Tsu’s in no shape to talk, and well, we’re probably not the best people to ask about that stuff.”

“Mm. No, I’ve given him something to think about. He’ll probably find it soothing to sit close to the pair of you; Shigure Kintoki needs His tsuka rewrapped, and that will keep his hands busy, and his Flames occupied _without_ him going Electric on the pair of you.” His silly son going Electric was the last thing the boys needed, but Takeshi’s Flames felt distinctly melancholic, and he wasn’t worried his boy was going to do anything Stupid, but he’d rather his son process this surprise with his Sky’s Flames to lean on than get himself twisted up again.

* * *

He’s just got Tsu into the furo, still wearing his t-shirt and boxers when Tsuyoshi knocks on the door and hands him the tray of assorted maki and iced tea, and he sits on the edge of the furo and hand feeds his Tsu, who is sort of aware enough to eat safely, but definitely stuck somewhere inside his own head, and he’s glad _he’s_ here for this, not Reborn. Because Reborn’s idea of dealing with this was Moretti, which hadn’t been a very good plan, and he didn’t want to know what round two of that sort of planning would look like. Once the maki’s been eaten, he slips into the furo as well and coaxes Tsu into tucking himself into his side. The door opens and shuts, but there’s no cheerful and slightly perverse greeting; instead, Takeshi sits down, back leant against one edge of the furo, and there are the almost inaudible sounds of what he assumes is Takeshi rewrapping Shigure Kintoki’s hilt, and his Flames. (Which slowly shade from melancholy Rain to something more like stable and happy Takeshi, and he snorts, because a year ago he wouldn’t have been able to track even his Tsu’s mood through his Flames, let alone one of the other members of their Set.)

“He deserved to die, right, Haya?” The words are murmured softly, mostly carried on his Flames, and he tugs Tsu into his lap and wraps his arms around him. The words were worried and tired, and his heart _aches_.

“What does your Hyper Intuition tell you, sweetheart?” His Tsu tilts his head, and his eyes go faintly orange, and there’s a soft ‘oh’. “In a perfect society, someone would have done something about him a long time ago, or even prevented him from going into teaching entirely, but they didn’t.” He’s not entirely sure what Tsu’s got from his Hyper Intuition, but the way his Tsu is fiercely nodding says it’s something more than what they’d _known_. “And now you’re back, beautiful, can we get that wet shirt off you? It can’t be comfortable.” His Tsu nods, and starts to pull the shirt off but whines, and he takes mercy on his sore Tsu; they’d had to hang upside down from ropes to disable one of the safety mechanisms, and Reborn’s stamina training was not actually appropriate, and he’d have to talk to _someone_ to get a regime sorted out for them both. He drops the wet shirt over the side of the furo - on the opposite side to yakyuu-baka, and then enjoys all the Tsu-skin in contact with his. It’s very _grounding_.

“Still glad we did it before Reborn came back. Idea of Reboyama-sensei is _terrifying_.” He agrees. “Think Kasumi-san has someone in mind, as she’s in town and Nami-chuu is Kyō-nii’s territory, it wouldn’t be suspicious for her to send someone to fill the vacant position.” He hadn’t even thought of that!

There’s a choking noise from Takeshi. “Kyō-nii?!”

“Kyō-nii. Do you remember Kasumi-san and Touma-san from when they caused panic at Namimori Elementary, Takeshi?” He thinks that’s the noise of Shigure Kintoki being put down carefully, and then yakyuu-baka’s head appears over the edge of the furo.

“That was funny. No-one had expected a senior government official and _the_ Hibari heiress at our school. I couldn’t believe no one had put things together when Kyōya-senpai took over the school and none of the adults objected.” There’s fond amusement in their Rain’s voice, and he raises a mental eyebrow because he is obviously missing a piece of the puzzle.

“Anyway -” there’s a pause, and he can see a slight glimmer reflected in the surface of the furo “- Haha-ue put her foot down and put the documents together, and now I’m Hibari Tsuna, Kyōya’s little brother. She even put Touma-san’s official government Seal on them, and filed them and it’s official and legal, and I disowned them, Takeshi. Nana and Iemitsu aren't my parents anymore. Haha-ue and Otou-san are, and -” his Tsu’s babbling now, and it’s adorable, “- that makes Kyōya my nii-san, and he _approves_. He smiled when I called him Kyō-nii.”

Takeshi’s face is priceless and he wishes he had a camera to record it for posterity. “Oba-chan -” there’s a click, and Tsuyoshi is in the doorway, and he doesn’t mind as long as the pictures stay private to their Set and maybe Tsuyoshi and Kasumi? “- is a force of nature, isn’t she?” He can agree with that sentiment.

* * *

he’s warm, and he’s comfortable, and the memory of what they’d done is sort of smooth around the edges, and he’s going to have to talk to Tsuyoshi about that because it feels suspiciously Rainy, the way that memory isn’t trying to eat at him. his Haya is curled around him, and they’re not wearing shirts, and that feels entirely too good, being pressed against his Haya’s skin.

he shifts a little bit, and his Haya follows him and he purrs low in the back of his throat, and he pets his Haya’s pretty silver hair and his Haya nuzzles into the hand and it’s just _peaceful_. even if they aren’t in their own apartment. he separates out what he’s sensing, and mmm. that makes sense. both Tsuyoshi and Takeshi are very strong Rains, so it makes sense their home is strangely _soothing_ , that those Flames have sunk all the way into the fabric of the building.

“Mm. Tsu?” his Haya is starting to wake up, and he smooths the hair back from sleepy jade eyes. “Morning, love.”

“Good morning, Haya-love. How did you sleep?”

“Surprisingly well. Who’d’thunk that yakyuu-baka would help _that_ much?” he snorts and keeps playing with silky soft hair.

“The two of you are ridiculous with those nicknames, Haya. I can _feel_ the affection behind them now. Functioning Hyper Intuition is an absolute _cheat_.” his Haya shakes his head, and he’s confused.

“Always was functioning, I think. Just too many threats, too much input, and untrained. It’s like trying to unpick an orchestra when you’ve never listened to one before.” he frowns, confused. “You can’t start following one thread among a hundred instruments until you can do it with just two?”

“Oh.” his lips shape the sound, but his mind is working at a hundred miles an hour, and he winces as pieces slot into place, and Haya brushes a thumb over his lips which distracts him totally and his cheeks pink. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“You’re awake! Tou-san has breakfast when you’re ready for it. He had me go grab your yukata when I was bouncing three hours or so ago, and he has explanations for some stuff, and I’ve eaten and I’m going to practise in the dojo. He said I was being a hyperactive menace and need to wear it off …” Haya hides his face in his shoulder, and Takeshi makes a sound, and then shakes his head. “... going to go practice. Bad Electric Takeshi brain.” his Rain vanishes again, leaving the yukata and a bag with what he assumes are more clothes on the couch, and he blinks. hyperactive menace was an understatement, though something was tickling at his intuition. Takeshi had made a decision, and the anxiety about how it was going to work out was what was making him hyperactive. if he’d just asked, he could have told him that it would be okay.

“Come on, Haya-mine. I’m starving, and I know you must be, too. We need to get up and eat.” his Haya groans into his shoulder, and holds tighter. “C’mon sweetheart. Remember we need to eat more when we’ve been using our Flames and we used lots of Flames to deal with Nezu-sensei. And whatever Tsuyoshi’s made smells tasty.” there’s a whine, and he sighs. “Gokudera Hayato, up, or I _tickle_ you.”

his Haya whines, and tries to hide, but he tugs the covers up and goes to actually do it, and there’s a squeak and his Haya going: “I’m moving, I’m moving.” he’s _almost_ disappointed he doesn’t get to tickle his Haya? but he’s not quite sure what he was thinking, either. not sure how his Haya would respond to being tickled, though judging by the squeak, his Haya might actually be ticklish, which would be fun later.

* * *

“At least you’re sane enough for the first kill to be hard.” The words would sound harsh to the inexperienced, but he trusted Hayato to explain what he meant if need be. “Even if it’s justified, it is. It won’t be for my silly boy; Shigure Kintoki is in our blood at this point. He’s _our_ Muramasa blade, and a tsukumogami to boot.” He sees Tsuna understanding, but it seems to go over Hayato’s head slightly, and he takes mercy on the boy. “He’s almost five hundred years old, and beloved, and _ours_ , as we’re His. He hasn’t needed to be sharpened in almost four hundred years.”

“He’s a UMA?!” Tsuna laughs, and reaches up and ruffles his Storm’s hair, and it’s adorable.

“Yes, Haya. He’s a UMA. They’re rare, but they do exist. Why did you think the shrine’s so well looked after?”

“Because Kasumi-san’s _terrifying_. And all of her female ancestors almost certainly were too?” He laughs.

“That would be a perfectly reasonable reason for the shrine to be well kept, but the reality is that the whole of Namimori is a Power Spot, and things like tsukumogami are more common here; only two of the other surviving Muramasa blades have become tsukumogami, and one is the Emperor’s personal blade, and the other is a temple sword, and both are cherished by either an entire family, or a temple devoted to its use against yokai.” His fingers twitch, wanting Shigure Kintoki, but He’s Takeshi’s now. He’s not even sure he could persuade Him to reveal Himself, and there’s an aching void where Shigure Kintoki _should_ be. The blade was in their blood, more than twenty generations of having carried Him embedding His very steel in their blood. “So how much did my silly son remember to tell you when he bounced in with the yukata?”

“He didn’t really say anything, other than babbling about being a hyperactive menace that needed to go and meditate?” He smiles at the probable paraphrasing of what his boy had said.

“Kyōya-kun pressed some buttons, and I suspect he’s going to enjoy the response now Takeshi’s processed what happened. I think he’ll probably stop with the overblown anime eyes now; he’s found a proper focus for his Electric tendencies.” He pauses and thinks. “As to what Takeshi _should_ have said. He is a very, very strong Rain, and he worked the memories of what you did into something easier to tolerate, like a shard of glass worn smooth by the ocean; the complicating factor is that he did that unconsciously, without explicitly asking, and he very much is your Guardian and has been for a very long time to be able to do that. As to what else, hmm. I was going to ask you to run through how you killed Nezu; debriefing is a useful way to process killing someone, even if they are _Stupid_.” Tsuna squeaks, and if his yukata had been large enough he would have tried to retreat into it. Hayato pulls the little Sky into his lap and wraps an arm around Tsuna.

“He’s safe, remember, Tsu? He’s asking because he knows it’ll help, and like Kasumi, he might be able to spot where we made mistakes and where we can do things better next time.” The little Sky unburies himself, and sits, hands in lap on his Storm’s lap, and he allows the boys’ words to roll over him, looking for the wrong note in their explanation.

* * *

“Kaa-chan said I needed to use my words, even if you do understand it when I ‘Hn’.” He shuts his eyes, his stomach doing that odd twist again when Kyōya’s voice drifts down to him from the prefect’s perch in the tree next to the dojo. “Said there was a reason that you ran but I had to let you explain, and had to make sure to ask, out loud in words. So I’m asking, Asari Takeshi. Do you want to fight and see what happens?”

His stomach twists a bit more, and he folds himself down into lotus position and puts Shigure Kintoki in front of him. Kyōya drops from his branch, a curious look in his eyes, and he takes a deep breath. “That was the first time my body has _ever_ reacted, senpai.”

“And what does that mean?” Kyōya actually sounds _curious_ rather than detached.

“I’ve never had a wet-dream. Never woken up with morning wood. Never fantasized. Despite reading and watching things, I didn’t react. Yet you beat me, and all I could think about was you pressing me to the floor of the clearing we used to spar, and my body _reacted_.”

“Hn.” That one was just contemplation, no words behind it, and he waited. “The shark-herbivore didn’t inspire a…reaction?”

“Squalo? Oh Kami, no. Dad said that not experiencing sexual attraction or reaction is normal, though, or can be, and he isn’t worried about it so I just decided to not worry, but yesterday it surprised and confused me, senpai.” His cheeks heat a little at the memory of the aftermath of their last sparring match. “I don’t think I’d mind seeing what happens if we have another fight, though? If you’re okay with that, I mean?”

Kyōya stills, and looks at him, and his eyes are a little bit purple, his mind notes, and then there’s a ‘hn’, and there are tonfa in the prefect’s hands and he gives himself over to the sword. Everything is less complicated with Shigure Kintoki in his hands, and Kyōya never goes easy on _anyone_ , yet he’d managed to cut Kyōya yesterday, and he’d added a new form to Shigure Soen Ryuu, and he _wants_ to be the best he can be and Kyōya won’t let him be anything other than that.

Their battle is a running one this time, full of athletic leaps and near misses, and laughter, and his adrenaline ratcheting steadily upwards, and oh, this is fun, and he grins, and then something strange happens; he tries to turn one of Kyōya’s moves back on him, and Shigure Kintoki’s tsuba rattles, and he has to force the blade to stay steel. He succeeds, but the effect of the new move is incomplete, and Kyōya dodges, and he’s winded and on the ground, and aroused, with his senpai straddling his waist, and he goes bright pink.

“Something’s wrong with Shigure Kintoki. That move didn’t work, and the tsuba rattled. Tsuba shouldn’t rattle, not unless the blade is cheap - and that can be fixed - but He’s a Muramasa blade.”

“Hn.” Kyōya gets off him, and pulls something out of one of his gakuran’s pockets, and that container _really_ shouldn’t be able to fit in there. “A gift, my Asari. It’s time it’s returned, I think.” He sits up, and bows as best he can, and accepts the gift.

“Thank you… Kyōya.” The other teen looks pleased at the affectionate lack of suffix. “I’ll open it later, but right now I think I want to try to do something about the other reason we were sparring? Kissing seems to be the first step from my research?” Kyōya laughs, and there’s dry lips pressed against his, and it’s kind of nice? Not something he’d go out of his way to do, but nice?

The touching is better. Kyōya’s body feels all tingly against his, and he’s a bit amused by how much shorter Kyōya is than him, and there’s a really pleasant shiver that goes up his spine, a mirror of the one he got when he got a new form right, and Kyōya’s smiling, and okay, this is fun too, but it’s like shiruko after a snowball fight; he’s enjoying it, would enjoy it again, but he can’t see himself deliberately going out _searching_ for some, and his head is a weird place, and he is just going to Fixate on what Kyōya is doing to him now, thank you, brain. His Flames oblige him, and really, it’s just as well one of them seems to know what they’re doing.

* * *

His little boy - Takeshi will _always_ be his little boy, even though they’re the same height now - feels _happy_. Content. And he doesn’t want to know what, precisely, he did with Kyōya-kun, but he would encourage them to do it again and again if it made his boy float like he is currently. “He gave me a _courting_ gift, Tou-san.” His boy’s smile fell slightly. “Need your help to open it? There’s a flame seal on it that feels like Shigure Kintoki, but I have no idea how to -” Takeshi waves his hands. “Gah. Words. Wanted to nap for longer with Kyōya, but he has people to bite to death and he sent me home. He handed it to me after the tsuba on Himself rattled though, so also need your help to check I didn’t damage Him somehow. I was trying a new form and it went _sideways_.” He laughs. He can’t help it. Takeshi feels so settled, but is also babbling madly, and this is who his son has always been meant to be.

“Let me see the courting gift, sweet, silly boy.” His son hands him a cylindrical sakura-wood container, and he swallows as he recognises the Seal, and the age of the container. Kyōya-kun had handed _this_ to his son? This isn’t just a playful modern courting gift, this is a gift of _intent_. The Seal is Ugetsu’s; it’s not the only time he’s seen it. The documents that place their lands in Hibari hands when they wandered were Sealed by Ugetsu and are tucked away in the house he’d intended to live in with Eiko, ceremonially presented to him by Kasumi as acknowledgement he was _home_.

It’s easy to open the container. His ancestor’s Flames are welcoming, murmuring that the time is right, and he tips out the tsuba into his hand, and hisses. The tsuba that Shigure Kintoki currently wears is far younger than the blade Himself, but this is probably the original tsuba; it _feels_ old enough, tugs at his Flames and fills the empty space in his soul briefly, but he knows he can’t. Shigure Kintoki is Takeshi’s now. “A tsuba? It looks like -” he tilts the tsuba, so his son can see the relief of the swallow-and-wave, and the far finer workmanship than the simple swallows of the current tsuba.

“You said it rattled? I think He was impatient for this to be returned to Him, Takeshi. Go and get the mekuginuki, and hmm,” He shuts his eyes. He knows that this was going to destroy the cloth involved, but for something of this magnitude, sacrifices had to be offered. “- there’s a kimono, folded, in a sakura-wood box of its own at the bottom of the blanket box in my room, Takeshi. Eiko will understand; she always did understand Him amazingly well for someone not born an Asari.”

He holds the tsuba in his hands, carefully, until his boy returns with the box, and Takeshi smooths out Eiko’s wedding kimono on the low table, and then unslings the indigo bag in which his boy carries Shigure Kintoki. “This is going to wreck Mom's kimono, tou-san.”

“Better than what else may be destroyed when we do this, Takeshi. He’s been caged for two hundred years, and He’s a Muramasa blade.” His son lays Shigure Kintoki on Eiko’s kimono, and he takes a deep breath and picks up the mekuginuki and works the three mukugini out of His tsuka. “Check those for damage, sweet boy, while I remove His tsuka.” He wraps and folds Eiko’s kimono around the blade, trusting that his wife’s kimono will be enough of a sacrifice to allow him to ease the tsuka off. If it wasn’t, he was going to lose most of the functionality in that hand, but he could _feel_ His desire to be whole again. He almost folds in relief when the tsuka comes free with ease; he’d been dreading having to work it loose manually. He knows Shigure Kintoki; he doesn’t worry about clearly identifying which seppa is which at this point; he has a suspicion that once he’s brought the ‘old’ tsuba into close enough proximity to Himself, then the blade would reassemble Himself.

“They’re almost _too_ perfect, Tou-san. If I hadn’t seen you just pop them out of His tsuka, I would have thought they were brand new.”

“Good. Place them on the table, Takeshi, and then, for my sanity’s sake, take a step back, please?” His boy complies, but Shigure Kintoki has other ideas, and he tries, oh Kami, he _tries_ , but he can’t get the tsuba onto the nakago. He doesn’t want Takeshi to do it. He’s half terrified of what Shigure Kintoki will demand for this, because for all he loves the blade in his hands, he loves his son more. “He wants you to do it, apparently, sweet boy.”

Takeshi takes the tsuba from him, and he wraps both hands around His blade; if Shigure Kintoki was going to demand too much from either of them, he would pay the price, not his son. But the tsuba goes on easily, and he holds his breath. Takeshi hadn’t placed either seppa, and yet, He already felt more alive in his hands. “Should I replace His tsuka, too, Dad?” He nods, and his son tilts his head, looking at the tsuba, and humming thoughtfully. “Yes, it is right. Needed to check. Don’t think He would work for you like this, though.”

He raises an eyebrow, but before he can ask, Takeshi has the tsuka fitted over the end of the nakago, and it’s almost like there’s a magnet running through Himself; the parts of Shigure Kintoki snap back together, and there are new seppa, the old ones still lying on the table, and even the mukugini reseat themselves, and he lays the blade down, relieved to still have his hands. “Pick Him up, carefully, Takeshi. There was _very_ little silk between His blade and my hands when I put Him down.” His son does, and Shigure Kintoki comes clear of Eiko’s kimono - which is in perfectly-cut ribbons now - and he almost doesn’t recognise Him. He barely sees the blade itself before He’s wearing a saya that hasn’t been seen in a _very_ long time. A saya which needs some careful attention of its own, but as Takeshi had proved himself capable of rewrapping Shigure Kintoki’s tsuka, he would leave its care to his boy. “Let’s see Himself, then, Takeshi.”

Takeshi blinks, and nods, and draws Shigure Kintoki, and he was right; there was a reason he barely recognised Himself. The curve of the blade had changed subtly and the hamon - well, he’s willing to swear he can see a swallow in it, now. His son hisses, and sucks his thumb, but there’s no drop of blood rolling down the length of the blade, and he touches his lips with his first two fingers, the others folded under his thumb and bows his head and shoulders in relief that Shigure Kintoki had accepted the offerings in good grace. He sweeps up the ribbons of Eiko’s wedding kimono, and places them into the indigo bag Takeshi had been using for Shigure Kintoki; he has a feeling his son will know what to do with the suspiciously small bundle of ribbons. (It was better than the other things that Shigure Kintoki could have taken - _eaten_ \- to fuel His recovery.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [The rest of the scene in the woods.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14779301) Explicit, Kyoya/Takeshi


	12. Chapter 12

he wakes up slowly, and warm, and alone; but that’s okay, because he hears his Tsu in the kitchen, moving things around, and smells bacon and the start of coffee. (he’s already getting more than a little spoiled; waking up wrapped around Tsu, with the immediate knowledge that he has his Sky, his love, his Tsu within reach, and is allowed to luxuriate in that is very addictive.) and they have a  _date_. a  _real_ date. he’s got butterflies at the bottom of his stomach, and he’s mentally flailing just a little bit because he has a date with his Tsu. they’re going to be seen, out together, doing very obviously date things, and it’s probably just as well that his Tsu doesn’t seem to care about what other people think, and at least Hibari and their baseball idiot know about things, and Tsu’s torturer hasn’t actually returned to Namimori yet. (he’d use the possessive about his Tsu’s Cloud, but he was fairly sure that even if he did so in the privacy of his mind, his Tsu’s new older brother would know about it.)

“I can ‘feel’ you’re awake, Haya. Come have some coffee and sit with me.” he opens his eyes, and there’s his Tsu at the foot of the bed, wearing sleep pants and a long-sleeved shirt, sleeves pushed to the elbows, with flour dusting that apron he likes and smudged on his face. “I’m making pastries.” oh, that’s too cute. Tsu with flour smudged across his face. he’s dazed as he shrugs into his yukata and almost walks into the doorframe on his way to the kitchen.

when he gets there there’s a chair near the corner of the counter, a cup of perfect coffee and a plate of fluffy eggs and thick Japanese-style bacon next to it. his Tsu has a strange look on his face, staring at the perfectly-layered pastry dough. “I went to get you and left this with two layers. Now there are six. No more dough. Just more layers.” he sips at his coffee and moans; Tsu makes the  _best_  coffee. it doesn’t hurt that his love goes nearly red at the sound.

“Sky Flame Magic, Tsu-love. That’s what we called it on the streets. Skies bring things into Harmony with their desires. It can be dangerous because they do it to their Guardians, too, sometimes. It’s called Harmony of Purpose and it can cause some major disasters. But it can also be a driving force behind some of the best things to happen. Imagine if the Emperor wasn’t a Sky and didn’t fight back against the government during World War II. That would have been a disaster.” he takes another sip of his coffee and starts eating his eggs. “That was Harmony of Purpose.”

“Oh. You know, it would help if Reborn had told me some of this shit.” the profanity from his Tsu is entirely unexpected, but not angry; his little brunet keeps delicately rolling the dough into what looks like croissants. “Like that there was a reason for Xanxus to be trying to commit a coup against ‘Jii-san’ and for his Guardians not to stop him.”

“You’ve been talking to him?”

“Mhmm. Well, mostly to Lussuria? They’re not as bad as they were pretending to be. They don’t kill kids; they were trying to scare us all off. Levi was just … Levi isn’t really a person anymore? He got twisted up by his own family because he is a Lightning and the untwisting has been really slow according to Luss-nee.”

he shudders and takes another delicate sip of his coffee. “Lightnings aren’t well treated. About the only Family in which they are is Bovino, mostly because it’s their primary type, and they’ve produced more than one Lightning Arcobaleno; judging by the cow-brat though, even they’re having problems internally.” his Tsu scowls.

“He might not be my Lightning -” he’s relieved that Tsu has realised that, “- but he’s not safe with Kaa-san … no, with Nana, not for more than another year or two; if they’re having internal issues, well, there’s something we can do about _that_.”

“Tsu -” his Sky’s Flames roll in the air, and he blinks as there’s a cell-phone in his Tsu’s hands, and he concentrates on his Storm Flames, determined not to get caught up in the incipient harmony of purpose; he’s  _curious_.

“Luss-nee? It’s Tsuna. I think I need to speak to my itoko, please. I have a mission for the Varia, and I think he needs to decide who gets to ‘play’.” killing Nezu had apparently done wonders for his Sky’s confidence about  _being_  Mafia. “Itoko. I put some pieces together, and if I want to find my own Lightning, rather than the one my father ‘selected’ for me, I need to make it possible for Lambo to return to his family safely.”

his Tsu puts the phone on speaker, and he wraps his arms around his Tsu, trying to lend him some of the confidence he can rapidly feel waning. “Tsch. Plain words baby-Boss. Do you want us to do some house clearing for you?”

“Every Bovino adult who thought sending a five year old to kill an Arcobaleno and/or selling a five year old Flame Active was a good idea, itoko.” he squeezes his Tsu gently around the waist and rests his face in his Tsu’s hair.

there’s a soft hum from Xanxus. “Consider it repayment for my lack of control over Levi, brat. The little Bovino might not have been your Lightning, but Levi disobeyed _explicit_ orders. Oh, and Mammon and Bel will bring the things you asked for next week. LUSSURIA -” the phone call disconnects and his Tsu sags in his arms.

“I did the right thing, right, Haya? Lambo needs his own family, and for them to be sane-ish, not Kaa - not Nana and her delusions.”

he wants to ask what things Xanxus was referring to, but - “You should get Dino to introduce you to Donna Aria, Tsu. If need be, she can twist Verde’s arm into taking up the Headship of the Bovino for a while; for all he pretends at amorality, he’s stable and protective over things that are his.” he carefully doesn’t answer his Tsu’s question. as much as he hates to evade it, Tsu needs to resettle his lines on things himself; his  _personal_  lines weren’t going to work for his love. (the primary thing that has saved his father from him so far is that the control of the Family would devolve on  _him_ , and he has no desire to deal with that; every time he’d been tempted to kill him, he’d just disrupted Falco operations instead. he’d even managed to get the majority of the Family temporarily banned from Mafia Island just before he’d come to Japan; that had been  _fun_.)

his Tsu pouts at his non-answer, but relaxes a bit and rests his head against his collarbone; his little love’s silky, fluffy hair feels good tucked under his chin. “I should slide those into the oven, Haya-mine. Finish your breakfast, then I’ll clean up while you shower. Help me with my hair after mine? If we have the time, maybe I’ll let you melt me.” he smiles. melted Tsu is an _excellent_ treat. even better than the pastries promise to be. (enough of a potential treat that he has to take himself in hand in the shower. between Tsu’s decision to force better behaviour on a misbehaving Family, the  _very_  tasty breakfast, the date that they’ve been promising themselves all week, and the pastries his Tsu had just made, well, he only has so much self-control, and neither of them are ready for more, but he can  _imagine_  being ready, can’t he?)

* * *

he shivers and has to lean against the kitchen counter; he doesn’t think that his Haya is projecting deliberately, but that doesn’t do anything about the effect his Haya’s Flames are having on his. there’s unfamiliar heat coiling at the base of his spine, and he _really_ wants to join his Haya in the shower and do something about the heat. (he’s not sure _what_ , just that he wants his Haya and wants his Haya to do  _something_.)

the pleasure in his Haya’s Flames crescendos and the resulting sensation is so alien (welcome, but alien) that it allows him to pull himself together as the water shuts off, and his cheeks are pink, and his Haya is adorable wrapped in a towel with his hair wet, and Haya  _squeaks_.

“I actually enjoyed that, Haya. I don’t need any details  _yet_ , or any apologies, okay? All I could feel was adoration and pleasure, and want and it was very, um, sweet, and like I think the coffee is for you in the morning?” his Haya blushes too, and he gives in and hugs his Haya; he’s too cute. (there’s also another soft squeak when his Haya shifts and discovers that he’s aroused  _too_.)

he breaks the hug when his timer goes off, and he checks the pastries, and resets the timer, before heading to the shower himself.

* * *

he crosses to his mother’s jewelry box and grabs the wrapped bracelet and hides it in the leg pocket of his slim cargos. this is the perfect time to give Tsu his gift - a few days late for their birthday, but very much a good time. he’s about to close the box when something else catches his eye: the tiny bar hairpins he uses to hold his hair back when he’s reading, the ones engraved with the little birds. his Tsu’s bangs are a bit on the long side - especially now he’s using conditioner on his Tsu’s hair - and have been getting in his eyes the last few days. he grabs a handful of the bird pins and closes the box; if he’s going to play with his Tsu’s hair he can at least make sure his Tsu can see today. he’ll look adorable with his bangs pinned out of his eyes.

his Tsu blushes  _again_  when he walks into the bedroom wrapped in a towel. there’s nothing on show (or rather nothing visible to a mundane, or to a Flame User not bonded to his Tsu) but he’d been able to feel (and hear; Kyoya’s trick was remarkably simple to apply to things other than just physical strength) his Tsu’s pleasure, and his gasped ‘Haya’, and he’d nearly had a second ‘problem’ to attend to.

“Do I need to parrot your words back to you, beautiful?” his Tsu shakes his head, and he gestures at the cushions on the floor. “Sit and let me comb that floof of yours.” he gets a pout for the teasing ‘floof’, but Tsu does take the indicated seat, and his hair is  _very_  fluffy now the conditioner is doing its job. he towels it dry gently, then makes his Tsu squeak when he uses very focused Sun Flames to finish drying it. (he  _loves_  physics; sneaking into the high level university courses had given him headaches, but had also given him  _so_ many tricks to try. all he had to be able to do was _visualise_ things.)

his Tsu twists around and looks up at him, and he grins. “How did you -?”

“Mmmm. Do you remember your tor-tutor describing the properties of the Flames, Tsu?” he gets a suspicious nod. “Sun and Rain are Activation and Tranquility respectively. It’s possible to use them at the atomic level if you’re really careful, but it needs more high level physics knowledge than most Flame Users go in for. I suspect Verde’s so scary because he can Harden things at that level. It must make certain sorts of experiments  _easier_?” his Tsu has a confused look and he facepalms as he remembers that they hadn’t gotten to atomic chemistry and physics at Nami-chuu yet. “Sorry, Tsu. Simple version; everything is vibrating a little bit; it’s too fast and too slight to see with the naked eye. That vibration has to do with temperature. If I Activate it, or Multiply it, I can warm things up, and if I Tranquilise it, things cool down.” his Tsu has the most adorable look of understanding on his face, and even if he had to think through his explanations more carefully, he was going to try and keep that expression on his Tsu’s face. it figures Tsu would love actually learning things in a way that made sense to him.

“So, Tsu-mine, do we have time to melt you?” his Tsu leans against him, nodding.

“Mhmm. Would enjoy it, too. A bit nervous. Have things planned but not sure if you’ll like them.”

“If it’s you planning them, I’m sure I will. Not because you’re ‘Juudaime’, love. It’s just you know me so well now. Better than anyone except myself.” his Tsu squeaks and shakes his head and he presses a kiss on his Tsu’s forehead. “Okay, turn back around beautiful, so I can finish playing with your gorgeous floof.” his Tsu sniffs, but does turn back round and he digs his hands into his Sky’s warm, soft hair and plays with it, feeling how his Tsu melts as he touches him. “Just going to reach for the oil I’m going to use on your hair, beautiful.” he warns Tsu, not because he thinks Tsu’s going to protest, but because if he bends too far Tsu’s going to turn his head and press his nose against his inner thigh and if he thinks too hard about that, something embarrassing is going to happen.

the oil is lightweight, and he works it into his Tsu’s hair gently and allows his fingers to drift lower, working at the tight and knotted tendons in the back of his Tsu’s neck and down into the ones in his Tsu’s shoulders and his Sky’s Flames go thick and content and he could roll around in them - or pet them; they remind him of a cat appreciating a sunbeam - “Oh Kami, that feels _good_  Haya.” he bites the inside of his cheek, because the moan from his Tsu is almost as filthy as the one his Tsu had made when he was in the shower, but this isn’t sexual, they aren’t ready for that yet and oh merciful mother of god he was going to be having a lot of showers at this rate.

“It feels that good because you’re finally relaxing all that tangled tension you’ve been carrying, beautiful.” his Tsu is beautiful to him, but he still half expects to have to defend the endearment; he doesn’t have to though, as his Tsu just nuzzles against his thigh in a sleepy affectionate gesture that makes his brain wander off briefly. (he’s trying to be good, he really is! Tsu is just making it challenging …) “Do you want me to work on your lower back, too, Tsu? If you’ve got knots in your shoulders it’s going to be at least as bad.”

“So tempted, Haya. Maybe later?” he smiles and presses a little more firmly into the tight muscles he’s been working on, adding a touch more of his Flames, and humming one of his Mama's favourite pieces to himself. the result is a thoroughly melted Tsu, one who joins him in his humming, and his Tsu has pretty good pitch; he wonders if he can coax his Tsu into singing for - or with - him. there’s a shift in his Tsu’s Flames, and another moan, and then his Tsu is listing, leaning against him, and he purrs in the back of his throat. content and happy Tsu is _amazing_.

now for the comb, and those hairpins.

* * *

when he comes back to himself he can feel something pinning his bangs back out of his eyes, and touches his hair warily. “Haya, sweetheart, what did you do?”

“They’re hairpins, Tsu-mine. To keep your hair out of your eyes.” he rolls his eyes. his love can be silly sometimes.

“I can feel they’re hairpins. Where did you  _get_  them?” oh, something’s wrong. “Haya? What did I step in?”

“They were Mamma’s. I’m fine, love, just … remembering still hurts. These ones were her favorites. She always said they were birds that sang out of love of the freedom of the sky.” he looks at Haya. his Haya couldn’t be referring to what he thought. “Mm. Skylarks, love. I thought they’d be perfect for you.”

“H-haya, I can’t accept these.” he’s shaking. these are too important for Dame-Tsuna to own! he’ll lose them - they’ll fall out somewhere, or someone will pull them out and steal them, or he’ll drop them!

“Che.” his Haya turns his head away before looking back at him, eyes gentle. “Then just wear them when I put them in, Tsu; maybe I can convince you later, but in the meantime, I promise I’ll keep track of them for you, even when you’re wearing them. But remember, love. You’re _not_ Dame. You’re  _my Tsu_. Would I ever tie myself to someone Dame the way I’ve tied myself to you?” he shakes his head. “So it’s settled. You are not Dame. Now come on, take a look at yourself and get dressed. I left clothes out for you.” his Haya’s smirk is wicked. “The outfit isn’t  _completely_  objectionable.” he wilts. Haya’s fashion obsession is going to be a nightmare to deal with, isn’t it?

he looks at himself in the big mirror Kasumi had brought over yesterday. the clothes look great on him, better than anything he would have put together for all that they're just an abstract-graphic shirt and slim pants, and the hairpins - oh, they make him look adorable! and very feminine, but with his size and face, it’s not a bad thing. maybe he should run with it? his Haya would certainly love to play with that image.

speaking of Haya, he should really make sure his love isn’t sneaking any of the croissants he left cooling on the counter. (he’s just in time to whack Haya’s fingers gently; it’s not that he’s being mean, but they’re going to the  _good_  ice-cream parlour for gelato and lunch, and Haya will ruin his appetite if he steals more than the one that’s already missing.)

* * *

“So, Tsu, where’re we going?” his little Sky is leading him by the hand, smiles on both their faces. it’s earlier than he thought it would be, only about 10 AM, but still late enough to be getting looks from most people; the one DC member they’d passed looked like he was going to stop them before pulling out a book, opening to a marked page, and surprising both of them by bowing to them. he’d even wished “Hibari-chan and Consort” a “wonderful day”. he blushes remembering that. Consort? he supposes he doesn’t mind being called his Tsu’s Consort. he likes it, even. it’s even better than being called the Decimo’s Right Hand, and that was all he would ever have allowed himself before Sunday, before his Tsu had decided that he was worth standing up to an Arcobaleno for, and even if the DC member didn’t mean it in quite the way that he was used to it being used, he could see managing to become Tsu’s Consort now. (his ‘Madre’ hadn’t been his father’s Consort; the man hadn’t been Useful - or trusting - enough to have one. Don Cavallone - Dino’s father - was the only Don he could think of to have had a male Consort, and seeing the strength of that relationship is probably why the young Don is still unmarried.)

“Bookstore first -” his Sky cuts him off before he can say anything (not that he’d mind carrying his Tsu’s books for him, but if they had that account to buy books and manga and magazines with, he was going to need Flames to carry their purchases and wasn’t going to get to pull Tsu into hugs during their date). “- several of Kyō-nii’s minions are going to get our purchases home for us, Haya. Tetsuya-san said it was the least he could do for the new Hibari-chan.” that use-name was far too cute for  _words_. and in addition, both of the older Hibari are going to  _coo_  when they see Tsu; he’ll have to make sure that he keeps an eye on how flustered his Tsu will be by the attention.

(Kasumi had already proven that she is capable of popping out of the woodwork with a camera, and he’s willing to swear that she’s using Mist Flames to produce the effect. and Kyōya _melts_  around Tsu; if he hadn’t seen the baseball idiot limping with a ridiculous grin on his face the previous day, he’d be jealous and wary of Kyōya wanting to steal his Tsu.)

the bookstore is one he’d found when he first arrived in Namimori, concealed down a side street, in much the same way as the specialty jewellery store is, and for much the same reason. “You love books, Haya, and the owner just smiles and lets me read the manga. Doesn’t blink when I dip into the yaoi ones, either.” that amuses him; he wonders if his Tsu’s bloodline had been recognised or if the store owner just had exceedingly good gaydar. and apparently the Hibari - because they were the clan of the area that were Flame Active - had been watching out for Tsu for longer than he’d estimated. “Gio-san, I brought my Haya to see your special stock.”

“It’s good to see you Tsuna-sora. I have the  _complete_  set of journals you’ve been wanting in the back.” his Tsu bounces on his toes.

“How did you get hold of them Gio-san? Even Mammon wasn’t sure they still existed!”

“A magician never reveals his techniques, Tsuna-sora, but for  _you_.” his Tsu waves his hands.

“Let me stay innocent, Gio-san. That way if Dino-kun comes to complain about them, I can smile sweetly at him.” he’s flailing. he hadn’t even known the shop owner’s  _name_. “C’mon Haya.” Tsu tugs him through an apparently solid wall -  _fucking_  Mist Flames - and he blinks and freaks out just a little bit. “I need some more parchment for negotiations with Xanxus-itoko. We’re still sorting out the mess that jii-san was trying to create. And I need to do _something_  about Dino-kun; Kyō-nii is going to bite him really, really hard - as will Takeshi-kun - if he continues the way he has been, and that would be a bad thing politically.”

“Tsu -” the back room is a paradise of books and handwritten diaries and there’s a rack of magazines in multiple languages, and he recognises two of the top privately circulated Flame Research journals, “- how did I not know about this?”

“Wellll. I fell in by accident? I was reading one of my guilty pleasure shounen-ai manga and leant against the wall which wasn’t actually a wall.” oh that was so his Tsu. and it explained his disappearing acts some Sundays. “And this place is sort of warded against Reborn -”

“It’s not warded against Reborn, Tsuna-sora; it’s warded against the Earth-born. The surviving one is a complete  _menace_  and I paid Viper to help me make sure he stays out. The Arcobaleno ward is a happy side-effect and they have a private phone-number for me, _if_ my own Sky approves of them. Which come to think of it, is  _all_  of them except for Reborn.” his Tsu giggles hysterically.

“Even Verde, Gio-san?”

“He makes nine-tenths of the non-reading material I sell, Tsuna-sora. What did he do that you’re dubious about him?”

“Tested his invisibility gear on me. Though I think it was because Reborn’s my tutor, so I’ll probably forgive him for that.” his Tsu grins. “Of course, if he made me one of his flame-tech smart phones with the ability to play Nintendo DS games, I would be a lot more forgiving a lot quicker, Gio-san …”

“I’ll tell him that. Knowing him, it’ll come with the ability to self-upgrade on the gaming front, Tsuna-sora, and a request to test a few of his more Sky-oriented inventions. And possibly Arcobaleno-grade laxatives to test on the little pest that’s attached himself to you -“

“- well. Might be kinda tricky?”

“What did you  _do_ , Tsuna-sora? You  _know_  that they’re basically immortal.”

“I… might have frozen him? He insulted Haya, Gio-san! To our faces! Knowing things and not telling me, like that Haya needed help and wouldn’t ask! I couldn’t let that slide. He went way too far. I didn’t let Belphegor get away with what he did to Haya, why would I let Reborn call him a whore?!” now he wanted to know exactly what his Sky had said or done to Belphegor; given that Xanxus had sounded conciliatory when his Tsu had set him on the Bovino adults ...

“Is there a Reborn-popsicle somewhere that needs shipping back to Italy, Tsuna-sora?” even he can tell the bookstore owner is a barely-contained pile of furious Flame User. he wouldn’t put it past the man to have shipped Reborn off to some random address in Africa with no identifiers and a Flame-sealed lock.

“I sent him back to his Sky courtesy of Dino-kun, Gio-san. He promised to tell Aria-san all the gruesome details and let her shout at him. Dino, Aria, and my itoko might end up tag-teaming jii-san to get him to terminate his tutoring contract; from Dino’s message last night, Aria’s on the warpath and Xanxus is  _itching_  for a legitimate way to tweak his ‘father’s’ nose.”

“Has anyone actually done a genetic test on your itoko, Tsuna-sora? He’s the spitting image of Ricardo di Vongola.” the storekeeper turns and pulls a large photo album off one of the shelves, and flips to its earliest pages. there’s a daguerreotype image preserved under a careful Mist Flame ward taking up the whole page, showing a group that look remarkably like the Varia Officers they’d fought, and at the center, a slightly-older version of Xanxus di Vongola. “See? Ricardo’s a good twenty years older in this than young Xanxus’s legal age, let alone his biological age, but they could be twins. He barely looks older. Either your itoko’s a blood Vongola, or someone like Trident Shamal got ahold of him when he was an infant, and changed him so much he might as well be; I know that there’s rumours certain Rings have accepted his bastards despite alleged blood-locks.”

he knows enough about that - he’d wondered if he was the man’s son when he was younger, until Shamal told him that Lavina was his baby cousin. (Shamal had told him about how his so-called father had treated his mother then. “Lavi had remarkably bad taste in men, Aquila, but if I’d known she’d been threatened into his bed I’d have killed Don Falco publicly, messily, and in such a way that everyone would know who killed him and why. I would have been well within my rights.” he’d never heard Shamal as deadly serious as he had been that night.)

“Everyone just assumed he was the Ninth’s. Not sure anyone even did blood tests to check that his  _blood type_  matched the Ninth’s. He was hissing about that.” he was still musing on Shamal, and missed the rest of what his Tsu said.

“So, young Fumante Bomba; which of you said something first?” he squeaks. Tsu had his nose in a journal and the store owner’s question was entirely unexpected. the fact that it was in Sicilian had added to the level of surprise.

“Uh.” he flushes. “He froze his tor-tutor for calling me a whore, dragged me home, and kept me.”

“In which case I think you and Tsuna-sora get to split the pot, Fumante Bomba. No one put Tsuna-sora creating a Reborn-sicle on the list.” he bit his lip. maybe he could use it to spoil his Tsu?

“I’ll use it to spoil Tsu. Better than feeling like he’s keeping me, Gio-san. But you get tell Tsu about the betting pool while I look at the Flame Journals you have.” the bookseller laughs.

“Deal. Tsuna-sora?” he goes to explore the Flame Research journals while watching out of the corner of his eye, listening intently.

“Yes Gio-san?” his Tsu doesn’t even look up.

“You know how I run the informal betting pools for the Flame Users in the city, and my wife is a Hibari?”

there’s a sigh from his Tsu. “They were all betting on us, weren’t they, Gio-san?” the bookseller grins and nods. “What were the stakes _this_ time?”

“¥10,000 buy in, no interfering in the subject being bet on, or be forced to match the current pot as a penalty.”

“So the normal rules. Speaking of which, has anyone won the ‘when will Takeshi stop pretending to be oblivious’ pool, Gio-san? He ‘fessed up to me on Monday that he was trying to make me feel more comfortable with the situation.” the bookseller reaches up and pulls a ledger off a shelf and checks it.

“Monday … morning or evening? And was there sushi involved?”

“Evening, and there was, but he didn’t eat any.”

“Hmm. Then Mammon won that pool. They had ‘within a day of the young Decimo declaring his interest in Fumante Bomba’. If there  _had_  been sushi, it would have been one of Takeshi’s few sane maternal cousins. You haven’t met her; she’s been out of Namimori distracting some of the others who survived Kasumi’s rampage from Takeshi going Active and becoming Shigure Kintoki’s wielder.”

“Uh. Gio-san? Takeshi’s been Active as long as Kyō-nii and I have.” the bookseller blinked.

“Tsuna-sora, do you mind if I arrange for your father’s life to be made miserable?”

“Don’t get yourself into trouble. And Hayato can have all of the pool, Gio-san, unless there’s anyone you know of who _needs_ the money.” he leaves Tsu to bicker with the bookseller, and instead buries his whole attention in the Flame Journal; he’s been wanting to read this one for over a year, but he hadn’t been able to order it.

* * *

“Okay. This is really, really good gelato, Tsu.” and watching his Haya lick the cone and discover  _just_  how good the gelato was had made his pants sort of tight and his heart pound. if that was how Haya looked when he came … his Flames certainly _felt_ the same as they had in the shower. “How did you find somewhere that sells _gelato_ , and persimmon gelato at that?”

“Wanted ice cream you’d enjoy and let my intuition pick, Haya.” he takes a lick of his own pick - sweet cream mikan - and oh, that  _is_  good. it’s rich and they’d got the flavour balance right, and mmmmmmm. he licks his lips, catching a drip of the gelato and then the pink tinge to his Haya’s cheekbones registers and what did he -  _oh_. he pictures Haya licking up a bit of ice cream in the same way and squeaks.

“Tsu?”

“It looked like I was licking up something else, didn’t it?” his Haya nods, and he covers his face. “I just wanted to treat you to something tasty! I wasn’t trying to be -” he waves the hand without the waffle cone and searches for the word, but his Haya puts a finger to his lips and he licks it without thinking (because it’s there and cold and he has ice cream and it’s a normal reaction, right?), and that earns him a whine from his Haya.

“Sweetheart, I’m going to remove my finger, and we’re going to both enjoy our ice cream, and if I have to experiment with uses for Storm and/or Rain Flames, so be it.” he flushes redder.

“Wao. You two are adorable, otouto. You might want to be a bit less adorable, though. Kaa-chan is coming. Wants a picture from your date. Says she’s missed too much.” he barely avoids squeaking at his new big brother’s words; that had been a lot of words from his Kyō-nii. is it because they’re family now? “Hn. Always have words for you. Sky and otouto, will protect you better now. Better than I have since the day we bonded.” he remembers that day now, and has for two days; the bullies kicking him, the warm orange fire and the purple flare, the feeling of safety before the pain was too much. he had thought it was a dream and forgot years ago, not long after the Seal locked his soul away.

“Tsu? Sweetheart?” he looks up into his Haya’s gorgeous, worried eyes. “There you are. Where did you go?”

“Remembering, Haya-mine. Did you know I’ve never  _actually_  been bitten?” he turns back to his new nii-san. “You really did take over the schools, the town for me, didn’t you? You’d have waited until you graduated high school if I hadn’t needed the protection, right? Thank you, Kyō-nii.” his brother’s eyes flash purple before softening and returning to silver; Kyō-nii’s hand carefully ruffles his hair, and he leans into the touch.

“Anything, any time, just ask, otouto. If you’d come to me or Tetsuya we might have been able to do a bit more sooner.” he goes to say something and his nii-san presses a finger to his lips; he manages not to lick this one (likely because it’s warm). “Kaa-chan reminded that you wouldn’t have known - or been able - to ask us, but that was a gentle reminder others will help, otouto. Should get back to patrolling now. Enjoy your courting rituals.”

his big brother vanishes again, and he wriggles round in the booth to lean against his Haya; this way he’d avoid the temptation of licking fingers again. he didn’t want Kasumi to take that picture just yet. (and now he's overthinking things again, because his imagination had supplied a continuance to licking the finger that wasn’t suitable for either being photographed _or_  a public space. nor was he actually ready to do  _that_  yet.) and his Haya leans against him too, and he licks at his ice cream, trying  _not_  to be salicious, but his Haya squirms anyway, and he resigns himself to Kasumi catching them at the _worst_ possible moment.

(he realises his mistake later; Kasumi is Misty as well as being the Cloud of Japan, and that means if she doesn’t want to seen, she wouldn’t be, and as she isn’t his Cloud or Mist, he can’t track her.)

he steals a lick of his Haya’s ice cream, and there’s the most adorable soft meep from his Haya, and he wriggles in his own slight discomfort as his pants tighten. then the taste of the ice cream registers and he makes a face. “How can you enjoy eating that? It’s all sour.”

“I like the taste. It might be an acquired one?” he can almost read his Haya’s thoughts, and he blushes and squeaks.

“Is  _that_  sour?”

his Haya blushes hard. “Um. It’s supposed to taste different depending on an individual’s diet? At least according to Shamal. He claims it’s why he eats so much fruit, so that women will suck him and not complain about the taste.” he squeaks; that had been far more detail than he’d been expecting from his Haya. yes, he’d been thinking about giving head to his Haya when he’d asked but  _still_. “He gave me a  _very_  thorough version of the talk. Very heterosexual, but thorough.”

he buries his head in his hands, barely avoiding his ice cream. “Too much information, love. There are some things about some people I’m better off not knowing.” his Haya makes an amused sound.

“At least it’s not details about Reborn and my sister?” he shakes his head and deliberately scoops up a finger full of ice-cream and presses it to his Haya's lips in the hope of gently shutting him up. it works a little too well; his Haya actually wraps his tongue around the finger and sucks it into his mouth and he has to moan at that. “Haya, love, that feels _really_ good, but I don't think either of us are ready yet.”

his Haya releases his fingertip, though there’s definitely a sense of reluctance. he sort of hates himself for being the good one, this time. he’s intensely curious about the physical arousal curling through his system, but he  _knows_  that neither of them are really ready for more. “You’re right, Tsu.” he knows he is, but it doesn’t make him feel any better about stopping something so very tempting. “I don’t want to stop either, but if we don’t we’ll regret it after.”

he pouts just a little bit for the effect, and returns to eating his ice cream, perking up when he remembers what he has planned for the next part of their date. even if they’re not ready to go further, having Hayato wrapped around him, helping him to learn how to shoot is going to make tonight’s dreams _fantastic_.

neither of them have much ice cream - no, gelato; Haya had been specific - left and while he’s tempted to order more gelato just for the faces his Haya is making while eating it he doesn’t. (he has a very  _Haya_  flavour arriving in a few days, and he suspects that his Haya will make _really_ pretty faces whilst eating  _that_.) “Tsu?” a hand tugs him back down to the bench.

“Yes,  Haya?” he has to wonder why his Haya looks so nervous. he reaches up and puts a hand on Haya’s cheek. “You don’t need to be nervous, Haya-love.”

“Have something for you. Promise me right now you won’t try to reject it? I don’t think I could take that. Besides, it’s not a date-gift this time. It’s your birthday gift. I have two years’ worth to make up for -” he levels a glare up through his bangs. “- and no, don’t give me that adorable look. This is something you more than deserve and it’s not meaningless, giving this to you. Shamal told me about it, and I’ll tell you the story later. Just promise me?”

“Promise, Haya.” his Haya puts something cool around his wrist; there is a brief flare of Cloud Flames before his _boyfriend_ (he thinks the word cautiously; testing it out, feeling out the shape of it, to see if it feels right, yet. It’s not quite there, but it’s _close_ ) allows him to see the slim, elegant bracelet.

“I used Cloud Flames to make sure it would stay on, Tsu. It’s a promise, and it does look pretty on you, too.”

“What does it mean, Haya?” his Haya flushes an attractive shade of pink.

“It’s a promise to stay by your side, that I love you, and want you there with me the rest of our lives. It’s a promise to cherish you, and love you, and hold you close the rest of our lives and beyond.” he squeaks softly; his Haya sounds so very serious that he isn’t quite sure how to respond. he wants to keep his Haya very much, and he looks up at him and bites his lip.

“Not rejecting you, or it, Haya, but are you  _sure_?!” he’s not -

“It’s not an engagement bracelet, Tsu. It’s been given before with no marriage. It’s a promise to you, not a tie. This is both more and less. I love you, and I know I always will. That’s what this says.” he doesn’t have the right words, so he instead resorts to wrapping his arms around his Haya and burying his head in his chest and squeezing his Haya tight. “You like it, right, Tsu?”

he nods against his Haya's chest. “I love it, Haya-mine.”

his Haya's arms wrap tightly around him. “I’m glad. It means so much that you accept it.”

“Why wouldn’t I, love? It’s from you, and it means you love me as much as I love you, and all I’ll ever have to do to remember that is look down.” he really looks at the bracelet now. “Look. The gems are the same color as your eyes.” he looks up at his love’s face, into those gentle eyes. “But your eyes are more beautiful. Gems can sparkle, but they can't show warmth and love.” they just sit there a bit, holding and being held.

when they leave there’s another DC member lurking outside the parlour. he looks up at one of his brother's older minions, and smiles ruefully when the young man lopes over towards him. “The Chairman sent me to drive you, Hibari-chan. He found out about your plans for the arcade and decided that you’d prefer the private firing range and the real weapons with paintball attachments.”

“My older brother is a very Cloudy Cloud, Itō-san. I understand why he would prefer I accept the offer, but this isn’t a serious lesson like it will be later. It’s a way for us to have fun, and be less real, and maybe -” his cheeks heat and he knows he’s turning pink. “- maybe it’s also an excuse to have Haya wrapped around me. Please don't tell Kyō-nii. He’ll just tease me. Us.”

Itō-san laughs, much more relaxed now. “All right, chibi. Go have fun. I’ll see you around, okay?”

* * *

“The arcade, Tsu? Why the arcade?” he’s confused, but his Tsu is bouncing slightly, and leads him into the back of the suspiciously quiet arcade and up a narrow staircase with an over-18 sign with a smaller sign under it with ‘exceptions made for Flame Actives’ written in Romaji.

“Because I thought playing first-person shooters with the actual gun controllers would be fun,  and you can start teaching me how to hold a weapon and sight along it properly. Gio-san said that Verde had altered some of the games slightly to be more realistic with their controllers, because so many of the ‘retirees’ were bitching about the standard controllers.” he raises an eyebrow, but his Tsu drags him back towards an arcade machine with a pair of pistol controllers and a somewhat stylised zombie on the side. “It might be a bit scary, but I’ve got you, Haya, and I’d rather shoot at zombies who've just scared me than humans, at least for now.”

okay, that is  _adorable_  logic from his Sky. and he can cope with decomposing corpses as long as he doesn’t have to  _smell_  them; it might also work as to very earliest stage of desensitization to death for his Tsu. for all that they’ve already killed - and Tsu had cried and vomited - they hadn’t had to deal with the aftermath; dead bodies are _messy_ and heavy and all-round  _awkward_  to deal with. (Kyōya had described the mess they’d made of Nezu with the elevator yesterday after they'd sparred, and he is relieved Tsu hadn't seen it.)

“And there aren’t enough Mist Flames on the machine for them to get out, either.” his Tsu squeaks and then composes himself again. or at least tries to.

“Hiiiee! _Get out_?! How could they escape?” he wraps his arms around his Tsu.

“Mischievous Mists find video games make excellent anchors for shenanigans, and one or two have gotten  _very_  creative with it.”

his tiny Sky shudders. “Like  _.//hack Sign_?”

“I don’t know that one, Tsu-mine.”

“Someone gets stuck in a video game. Real body in a coma.”

he shudders, too. he’s seen more than enough similar Mist-Territories to nod. “Yes, that’s a common one, love.”

“But the machine would ‘feel’ like Mukuro if a Mist did something to it, right, Haya? I mean I can feel it when he’s trying to influence my dreams.”

he hates to break his Tsu’s hope. “Actually, the really creative ones would make the machine feel safe and almost innocent. Remember how Chrome felt when you first saw her?” Chrome terrifies him in some ways; she's half a step away from being Tsu’s Mist Guardian and can wield an incredible amount of power despite having been mostly eviscerated (her injuries made almost no sense, given their official cause; it was more like the incident had been staged to harvest her organs).

“But she -”

“She’s had Mukuro in her head for at  _least_  six months, and no one with parents like hers - I did my research, Tsu -  _no one_  stays innocent. Ask your cousin; living with a whore for a mother educates you early. Pretending to be one certainly had that effect for me.” his Tsu shudders.

“I’ll take your word for that Haya. His mama seems to be a sore spot for Xanxus; something to do with how the Ninth took him in.” he winces; he heard rumours about that, down among the whores he’d always listened to when he needed information. admitting that a powerful man was the father of your child in Sicily was a  _bad_  idea. “Was one of the reasons for the Cradle Affair. The Ninth abandoned her on the streets and without Xanxus, she didn’t make it through the following winter.” he wraps his arms around Tsu, and burrows his face into his hair. “But that’s Xanxus’s history, even if it does have scary similarities to yours, Haya, and we were here to do something fun, not work through more issues.”

he makes an amused sound, and takes the hint. but he'll need to have the rest of the discussion with Tsu, and then with Kyōya, because whores really are the best informants, and can be won over for a very small investment. “You’re right; that is a bit too heavy for date-talk, Tsu. Besides, didn’t you want shooting lessons? And for me to be wrapped around you?” his voice is teasing, deliberately light and he winds himself around his Tsu, tangling them together. while his Tsu will probably swat him when he realises what skill set he is drawing on, he can see why some of the whores who’d taken him under their wing thought this was too intimate to engage in with their Johns.

“And so I did, Haya.” he squeaks softly when his Tsu simply wriggles, apparently _intentionally_ rubbing himself against his cock. “Perhaps we _should_  get started. Not sure I could shoot from this position though, even if this feels  _very_  good, Haya.” but the words are accompanied by another wriggle, and he grits his teeth, fighting the urge to thrust his hips.

“Tempted to  _spank_  you, Tsu.” he’s not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed that his Tsu eeps, and stops wriggling in favour of reaching for the pistol-controller. it looks like a Glock? hmm.

“Maybe another day, Haya.” he grins.

“Mhmm. Want me to show off for you before you take a go, or just let you see if you can use your Hyper Intuition to get the hang of the game, Tsu?” his Tsu makes a thoughtful sound and then passes him the controller. it’s cleverly done; there’s a pressure pad positioned for his non-trigger hand to squeeze and when he presses it, the character walks forward in the direction he’s aiming. there’s a fatal flaw; he can’t pivot on the spot without losing sight of the screen, but he can deal with that. he taps into the tutorial and is relieved to find that it walks him through the controls (including a pivot) with Verde’s deadpan voice giving instructions. there’s an ominous ‘resurrection may be painful’, but he ignores it in favour of beginning the first level, and it’s hysterical taking headshots at the zombies, and reloading; he’s not spent much time with a Glock since he left Italy.

he only lasts for a level and a half, but he’s not surprised given the apparently adaptive difficulty level, and then he finds out what Verde meant; he shrieks like a little girl and drops the Glock controller and shakes his hands. “Fuck. Verde really meant that resurrection was painful.”

“Oh  _shit_. Sorry, Haya. Forgot to turn that setting off.” his Tsu leans down the side of the machine and there’s a click.

Verde’s deadpan and now slightly judgmental voice once again comes through the speakers. “Resurrection feedback disengaged.” he makes a disappointed noise. he isn't sure he wants the feedback off; he did screw up badly enough…

“No, Haya. You aren’t going to punish yourself for losing a life. It’s a game. It’s supposed to be fun, Haya-mine.” he’s once again reminded exactly _how_ little his Tsu is when he feels the smaller teen rest his head against his spine; Tsu’s forehead doesn't even reach the knob of bone at the base of his neck.

he’s getting used to the way the controls work already, and the adaptive difficulty settles out at a point where he can enjoy the head shots, and the delightfully messy animated deaths. he still squeaks when he runs into the final boss for the level; he’d  _seen_  an abomination like that and he kicks the exit button rather than take it on, and “Mio Dio, he really has fucked with the game. That was one of the  _things_  that the Estraneo created before - well, before Mukuro wiped them all out.”

“We can discuss that and my - because he is mine, now - Mist’s sanity later, Haya. This is supposed to be fun.” his Tsu pokes at the side of the machine and makes a pleased noise when he finds another switch, and flicks it.

“Adaptive Difficulty and Real Mafia Monsters, disengaged.” the voice sounds a little disappointed.

“Okay. Come here, Tsu.” his Tsu settles into his arms, and then twists, and he grins, and places the Glock controller into his Tsu’s small hands. (it’s accurately weighted and sized and he makes a note to find something a little smaller for his - boyfriend? lover? he isn’t sure either word is quite right yet.) he corrects his Tsu’s grip, and Tsu makes a small noise that he has to try  _very_  hard not to react to - he shoves whatever  _that_  feeling is (he knows, he’s being dishonest with himself) back into its box - “That’s better; feel how it’s sitting in your hands, how the weight is well distributed and even if it shook or jerked from recoil it would be easy to get it back onto target?”

his Tsu nods, and he toes the start button, and tries to apply minimal guidance to his Tsu’s aim, wanting to see how Tsu would do on his own, but still wanting to lend him confidence. his Tsu squeaks when the first shot he fires connects with a zombie (less realistic now, and he shudders at the thought the Estraneo may have gone  _that_  far) and it stumbles back and then comes at him again. his Tsu scowls, and he feels the Glock controller rise a little further, and his Tsu isn’t aiming properly and he goes to say something but the zombie’s head _explodes_ , and oh, this is going to be interesting. there is enough Flame tech in the machine that - at least while he's relaxed - Tsu’s Hyper Intuition can help him with his aim, and he’ll have to see if that translates to the range later, perhaps using decreasing Flame traces on pop up targets? it would be a really unpleasant problem if a non-Active firearms user didn’t register as a threat to Tsu. he shudders, and his Tsu leans back into him, and hums thoughtfully. “This is, uh, surprisingly easy, Haya? Can we try the co-op mode, or see if we can turn the adaptive difficulty back on?”

“We could, but I think we’d have more fun if we picked one of the sillier cooperative games, Tsu-sweetheart. You only flipped one switch and I’d really rather not have Estraneo nightmares tonight.” even if he would have his Tsu to cuddle, he really would rather not tempt the Moirai any further than he already had.

“We can go back downstairs and explore the options, Haya. Don’t want you to have nightmares either.” his Tsu turns in his arms again, and soft hair tickles his nose. “I think if we play in that mode again  _I_ might have nightmares. Makes sense of Mukuro though if he was exposed to that sort of stuff for  _real_ , though.”

they find something far cuter and more date appropriate downstairs, and giggle and hiccup their way through the tokens his Tsu had procured for them playing Dance Dance Revolution and Dynasty Warriors, and it soothes some of the unintentionally ruffled feathers from Verde’s modifications to Resident Evil. (why did he have a suspicion that other monsters he’d recognise - like a certain Wrath - would have shown up if they’d kept playing? not that his Tsu would think his cousin a monster, but the Varia presents the rest of the Mafia with a very _specific_ image, and they're one of their world’s nightmares. weaker Families live in dread of them being let loose on them.)

Tsu digs in his pockets, and pouts when he realises that they’re out of tokens, but he’s actually sort of relieved; the rest of the patrons of the arcade had filtered back in again while they’d been playing, and he is about ready to retreat to somewhere a little more defensible and a little less crowded (his instincts are prickling, and he’s not sure if it’s paranoia, but he’d really rather not find out that it isn’t paranoia).

“It’s not paranoia if they’re really after you, Haya-mine.” his Tsu’s voice in his ear makes him jump, but what his tiny fluff-ball says quiets something in his head, and they quietly make their way to the ticket counter - he wants to get his Tsu something and he’d seen his boyfriend eyeing some of the prizes.

“Pick something out, love. We have enough for all but the actual consoles and related things. I saw you eyeing some of the plushies.” Tsu stiffens at that and shrinks in on himself.

“A-are you … are you sure, Haya? I haven’t been allowed plushies since I was eight. I'm too old?” his heart aches for his Tsu. even if he’d run with almost nothing, he’d still had his then-favourite plushie, and he’d acquired several more and not only because the ones from Mafia Island made surprisingly good heaters if you could use your Flames; he’ll have to dig them out and make sure his Tsu sees them so he understands that having one - or more - is okay. (the only reason Tsu  _hasn’t_  seen them is because his Tsu makes an even better plushie, warm, soft and fluffy and constantly radiating Sky Flames at him.)

“He needs to die, Tsu. No one’s too old for plushies. I have four at home.” he’d given the rest away to some of the younger kids on the Island when he’d left. “If you hadn’t made that rice pack I’d have dragged one out to heat the blankets. Go pick one out, and it can keep mine company around the apartment.” Tsu looks shocked that he has plushies, and that he’s allowed one of his own, and he seethes while his Sky goes to the counter, squints through what he now realises is a Mist veil on some of the plushies, and points to a fox nearly the same warm brown as his hair. the counter clerk gives him a long look before she takes the fox down and hands it to him, and only takes the bundle of tickets from upstairs. the fox is huge compared to his tiny brunet - probably actually mountain fox-sized - and he lets go of his anger and smiles as Tsu puts it over his shoulders like a lounging cat; the sight is too cute to do anything else. the counter clerk calls something after him and he sees the shock on his Tsu’s face.

“What was that about, sweetheart?” the fox is shoved into his arms, and he recognises the feel of a Flame-sink; it’s not one that radiates much heat (probably only body temperature), but it ‘feels’ a tiny bit like Tsu and he realises what it’s for. “Oh. Should I?” there’s a nod, and apparently his Tsu has crashed a bit to be that quiet. he fills the Flame-sink with his Cloud and Rain and Sun and a tiny bit of Storm and hands the plushie back to Tsu, and watches as his tiny Sky relaxes completely.

“Feels like you, Haya-mine. Possessive and safe and warm and something else.” had his Tsu really never felt protected? that's what he’d put into the Storm Flames; he wants to Rage at the ones who should have been protecting this tiny, perfect, fluffy Sky. Well, that’s his job now; others can help, but Hibari Tsuna is _his_ now.

“Mmm. The something else is protectiveness, Tsu-love.” the same Committee member - he remembers that Tsu called the older teen ‘Itō-san’ - steps out of the shadows, and this time he’s grateful for Hibari Kyōya’s overprotectiveness. Itō-san has a set of car-keys dangling from his non-dominant hand - he’s a hitman; he knows how to recognise gun calluses, and few people choose to learn to shoot with their off-hand - and he nods. they’re led to a dark-blue sedan and his Tsu has definitely crashed. he has to manhandle his Tsu into the vehicle, and his Tsu leans into him, mumbling something, as intent on cuddling him as on cuddling the fox. They need to talk when they get home, but a short nap first won't hurt.

* * *

“They were adorable, Kyōya-sama. Gokudera-san had good control over his Flames, and while I could tell he was a Storm, like your uncle, he got very Cloudy and protective about your younger brother.” Kyōya-sama nods, and holds his hand out for the car-keys, which he surrenders willingly. “He didn’t balk or rail against the discreet guard; your little brother was more apt to kick against the limitation.” The Chairman raises an eyebrow and he rubs his nose and unclips the holster from the small of his back. “He protested your proposed change of venue, and scowled when he realised that we’d cleared the arcade before his arrival.”

“Hn.” He surrenders the pistol back to the Chairman’s hands; there is a small armoury within the younger teen’s compound where the weapon will be secured. “Consider yourself assigned to Tsuna-sora.” He blinks and oh, that choice of suffix explains so much of the Chairman’s behaviour, if the ‘new’ Hibari-chan is his Chairman’s Sky - his mind stutters. He’d seen the Chairman’s strength. Seen him fight against his uncle, with tonfa and lit Flames, and his Chairman had fought an _Arcobaleno_ to a standstill. A Sky had to be a match for their Elements. That means that the tiny fluffy Hibari he’d called chibi - he shivers. How strong _is_ the chibi to be able to match the still-growing expanse of the Chairman’s Cloud?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter took so long to produce because it refused to be split, but there's lots of cute inside.
> 
> (It also took a long time because night_mare was on vacation and succeeded in kidnapping xia; this made for a distracted bunny)


	13. Chapter 13

“You always did have uncanny timing, otouto-kun.” There is only one person that the ringtone  _could_  be, and if anything he prefers to be teased; he’s complained about the formality of being ‘trapped’ in the Imperial Palace often enough around her. “I have happy news for you. You have a new godson, and the Asari sword has re-surfaced, along with both his current and former wielders.”

Yukihiko laughs at her. “You have had a busy week, aneki. And apparently have several stories to tell. How did I end up with a new god-child, given I know you weren’t pregnant as of nine days ago? And where  _did_  you find the Asari? I thought we’d lost their Sword and their bloodline in my grandfather’s day.”

“That would be the same story otouto-kun. But I thought that you knew we were hiding the Asari? Or at least that we were holding their lands for them in trust, and had a  _vague_  idea of where they were wandering.”

“No, you didn’t share that nugget of information with me aneki. And people have been petitioning me to declare the Sword lost and the bloodline extinct, so it would have been nice to know.”

“Oops.”

“Kasumi -”

“I know. So, story. It turns out that my Kyō-chan has had a Sky since he was  _five_. But the idiot half-gaijin that  _was_  the Sky in question’s sperm donor had him  _Sealed_.” She hears the sound of shattering porcelain and is not surprised by it. She had thrown herself into battle with her Kyo-chan to work out her Rage after all. “Which left my Kyō-chan Active, without a Sky to moderate his Flames and instincts for him and with a five year old Sealed Sky to protect, and of course my stubborn son didn’t think to ask for help. It also left the last Asari-heir, who is a year or so younger than my Kyō-chan, as an Active Rain and a Guardian as well, and you know what they can be like without a Sky, or something to Fixate on.”

“... so there is now a Hibari-chan, and he is the Sky of this conversation, and of his nii-san?”

“And if Sawada Iemitsu sets foot in Japan, I will do the same thing to him as I did to the parents of Yamamoto Eiko.” She doesn’t need to see her ‘little brother’ to know that he just winced, or that he is currently pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Noted, aneki. Perhaps I should have his passport revoked? I don’t think the Diet needs a demonstration that you still have fangs; it took them far too long to settle down after that incident, and I would rather keep you as my Head of Security. You’re so much more reasonable about things than your predecessor.” Yukihiko has a point; she had rather overdone things, but in her defense, they had killed the wife and Consort of the Asari head, who had asked her for protection, and she doesn’t  _regret_  her choices.

“He has an Italian passport too.”

“If he commits seppuku on the floor of the Diet, aneki, I will send you the bills for the members’ therapy.” She hisses, a little performatively; to repeat herself would be gauche, and the half-gaijin idiot doesn’t deserve the honor anyway. “Now, when do I get to meet the new Hibari-chan that you’ve adopted, Kasumi-nee? I’ve been itching for a new apprentice.”

“Tsuna-chan is adorable and so sweet and he has the cutest Consort.” Yukihiko chokes.

“Aneki, I  _know_  what your definition of cute is. Do I want to know what his body count is?”

“... six. But that’s only in Namimori, otouto-kun. He’d earned himself a Name, though, in Italy, so probably in the double digits. The competition will do Kyō-chan good.” He makes an exasperated sound, and then hangs up on her and she snickers. As much as Yukihiko had tried to be her Sky when they were younger, they just weren’t compatible. ‘Skull’ made him a far better Cloud, and she is willing to overlook the Arcobaleno’s occasional forays into bringing bad anime to life and his tendency to abscond with the Emperor to make him relax. (or perhaps because of that tendency - he dud give her at least a few days' notice.)

* * *

the dishes are in the sink when his Tsu finally sighs and says, “Haya, we need to talk about today.” he freezes. no. no, no, no, no, no. this isn’t happening. his Tsu doesn’t want him. he knew it would happen, he just wasn’t expecting it to be  _today_ , after that wonderful date, and the bracelet, but he had pushed Tsu so far and -

“HAYA!” Tsu’s panicked voice brings him back. oh,  _oh_. there’s  _his_  Tsu, with the pins still in his hair and the bracelet on full display, in the apron he picked out even though now it needs to be washed and there’s another one in the closet, and  _oh_!

“Sorry, Tsu.” his voice is raspy, and his chest aches, but he’s not panicking, and he hugs his Tsu maybe a bit too tight, but all his tiny love does is settle deeper into his arms.

“Haya, not leaving you. Not ever. Promised, didn’t I? I don’t break my promises without reason, and I have absolutely no reason to break this one.” his Tsu’s arms tighten. “It’s nothing to do with leaving, sweetheart.” he relaxes at that. “It’s about what we did. We almost went too far, Haya, and I just want to know what you want.”

he winces. they went far enough that he’s cringing just remembering. “Why did I even feel like it was okay to wrap around you like that?”

“That’s what I’m curious about, sweetheart. It felt good, but your wince says that you pushed  _yourself_  too far.”

he buries his face in his Tsu’s hair, and tries to think about why remembering how he’d wrapped himself around his Tsu bothers him. “I know about sex. It was unavoidable, especially with - well, some of the fireflies, mostly the ones who sort of liked their lifestyles, would teach each other and the kids who were interested things, and um, that sort of wrapping around a partner is -” he flails for words, flails to find the right way to explain to his Tsu another chunk of his history, “- intimate, and I wasn’t supposed to be selling that sort of intimacy: oiran, not geisha, to put it in terms you might understand better.”

“Oh my Haya.” he makes a low sound in the back of his throat, and Tsu wraps his Sky Flames around him. “I - you  _do_  know that I wouldn’t care if you’d gone to them for - you know.” his Sky wriggles and tilts his head, and he kisses the corner of his love’s lips. “I think this is one of those differences - oh Kōjin-sama, I don’t have the right words  _either_. If you  _had_  been a practising kagema, I wouldn’t care. You’re  _mine_  now.”

he whines at that, and he knows his face is bright red. “Yours, Tsu?” he flushes more at how hopeful he sounds. he knows Tsu loves him, but to hear it said is -

“ _Mine_.” the word is very emphatic, and the Sky Flames wrapping him are almost suffocating in their intensity. “Mine to love, and protect, and spoil absolutely rotten.”

he squeaks and buries his head in soft auburn floof again. there’d been an almost audible ‘click’ and he’s absolutely sure that his Tsu  _meant_  his words, and they -

“Are you okay, Haya? Did I say something wrong?”

“No, no, no, Tsu. I just -” he makes an odd sort of squeaking sound and kisses the edge of his Tsu’s lips again, not trusting himself to kiss his Tsu square on the lips, the temptation to kiss the Sky who’d just irrevocably claimed him as his Consort with tongue and then take him to bed too much. not that he’s sure that Tsu realises he’d just done that, but that is the only thing that it  _can_  be; he’d settled fully into Tsu’s Sky as one of his Guardians earlier in the week, but this feels  _more_.

“We were still having a conversation, Haya.” there’s one of his Sky’s fingers pressed to his lips, and he swallows, and nods. “I  _know_  you were using being a kagema, or at least the pretense, as a way to get close to your marks. It doesn’t disturb me, Haya, but I think it’s skewed some stuff in your head about what’s acceptable with who, and when. We agreed that we were going to go slowly though, and I know that we’re sharing a bed because it’s comforting, but neither of us is ready for more than closed-mouth kissing and above the waist touching, Haya. For me it’s about - oh I’m not ready yet, Haya, I know I’m not. But even if I was ready, I think you need for us not to jump straight to sex. Sex now would twist the inside of your head up more.”

his Sky is right, and he resists the temptation to suck the finger still pressed to his lips.

“Let me set the pace, please, Haya? If I think we’re ready then I’ll kiss you with tongue, or touch you somewhere lower than your belt, and you’re welcome to reciprocate.” his Tsu lifts his finger from his lips, and he mourns the loss briefly.

“I think we can do that, Tsu, but I can keep cuddling you like this, right? I don’t want to stop curling up with you. I  _like_  having you curled in my lap and it’s not sexual at all.” yes, he’s half aroused, but that, he reflects, is more an artefact of ‘Santa Madonna, I’m a Sky’s  _Consort_!’ and cultural assumptions about that status (most of those who had gained it the last forty odd years had been mistresses who had gone Flame Active).

his Tsu takes him at his word, choosing not to call him on it, and leans up to kiss the corner of his lips. “Given how much I enjoy it Haya, and it’s comforting both of us, I have no intentions of stopping it.” he sighs in relief. “In fact, I think we both need to move to  _our_  bed, Haya, so we can cuddle properly because I’m exhausted and even if you’re not, we both need the quiet.”

he can agree to that; it’s why he’d picked up a book light with a red bulb, so that if he can’t sleep he won’t disturb his Sky, because Tsu makes everything better, and he leans into his Flames and stands up, shifting his grip so he’s holding his Tsu hime-style and his Sky squeaks and clutches his shirt, and it’s adorable. “And this is okay too, Tsu?” his voice has a pleading edge, and his Tsu nods, and grazie a Dio. (although he has no idea how he’s going to hold out until his Tsu decides they’re both ready.)

as tempted as he is to roll Tsu into the middle of their bed, fully dressed, he puts him down gently at the edge; he’d told him about the plushies, but sometimes you have to show rather than tell, and he’d been an idiot not to unpack them, but there had been the Varia and he’d been self-flagellating before that and since. “Haya?”

“Mmm? Get ready for bed, Tsu-love. I have some things to dig out of storage to go with your gorgeous fluffy prize.” his Tsu makes an ‘oh’ sound, and he slips out of the bedroom; while he’s sort of used to seeing Tsu in his boxers, if he can’t do anything with the low heat simmering in his belly, he isn’t ready to see more of his Tsu than he’s already seen.

the access to the crawl space is in the top of the closet, and he sneezes as he lifts the hatch and hauls himself up. there’s not much he keeps up here; just the two boxes he’d shipped to himself originally and his two suitcases and backpack, and the plushies are easy enough to retrieve. he’d vacuum packed them, so once he opens their bag they need a slight shake, but they don’t smell damp or fusty. (in fact when he smells them, they mostly smell like the lemon blossoms that had been out when he’d gotten Reborn’s message, and oh, that is a scent he’s missed.) of the four of them, two have Flame activated heat-sink wiring embedded in them, but he’d deliberately drained those dry before packing them to avoid breaking Omertá or getting his things detonated by Customs because they’d been warm still after a week. easy enough to reActivate, though perhaps he’d talk his Tsu into filling the fox with his Sky Flames so that with his hyperawareness of Tsu, he can feel his Flames when they separate.

he squirms back out of the crawl space, his plushies held close, and his Tsu is in pyjamas when he re-enters the bedroom from the hallway. “Oh, they’re adorable, Haya.”

he blushes, and lays the four plushies on the bed next to his Tsu, who is cuddling his prize. “Argen is my oldest plushie, Tsu, she was in the things that Shamal stole from Mamma’s apartment after … she was wrapped up and tagged as a gift for me, so he made sure I got her once I ran, and Shamal is responsible for the Flame-signature sink in her, and she still feels like Mamma.” he tucks the small silver plush falcon into his Tsu’s arms, and his Tsu squeaks at the trust that he’s showing him. “Vulpe I won. And he got me through the first winter, and he’s sentimental for that reason. Umbra I saved up for and was my first true warming plushie -” the panther is a big plushie, big enough he’d used it as a pillow for years, and dirt resistant as well as being a heat-sink, “- and Lavina,” he tucks the worn little silvery seal in next to Argen, “I couldn’t resist. She reminded me of Mamma without being a Flame-sink. I found her in a civilian charity shop, and I couldn’t leave her behind like I did with several others, because the factory messed up and she has Mamma’s eyes -”

“If Argen feels like your Mamma, Haya, I think I would have liked her.”

“She’d have adored you, Tsu.” he turns away from his Sky and digs in one of the drawers, pulling out a clean pair of boxers and stripping off and there's a squeak from his Sky at his lack of modesty, and he blushes slightly even as he crawls into bed with his Tsu.

He snuggles into the pile of plushies and Tsu, and Dio santo he’s warm, and he has his Tsu and his Mamma - and oh he really should have at least pulled Argen out, even if he had been punishing himself - and he’s his Tsu’s Consort, and obeys his Sky’s hushed ‘Sleep, Haya, you need it’.

* * *

Tsuyoshi wakes with a start; someone’s slipped into his territory, and is making a beeline for his son’s bedroom, and he’s going to  _kill_  them - oh. It’s Kyōya-kun. His Flames recede, and he rises from his futon, and tugs on his yukata; he needs to have a conversation with the young Cloud about etiquette and not being creepy about his territoriality, and now is as good a time as any to have it. He allows his Flames to seep out from under his skin, lulling his territory into Tranquility and slipping in amongst the shadows.

He actually manages to sneak up on Kyōya-kun, though he suspects that’s as much because Kyōya-kun is in seiza, staring at his boy - and that, rather gallingly, Kyōya-kun doesn’t think of him as an actual  _threat_  - as it is to do with his stealth skills. “Your subtlety leaves something to be desired, Kyōya-kun. You woke me up from a dead sleep.”

“Hn.” He rolls his eyes, and the Cloud clarifies. “Needed to see him, Asari-san.”

He sits down next to the young Cloud, permitting himself to sit cross-legged, and sighs. “You may have needed to see him Kyōya-kun - and call me Tsuyoshi, please - but I need my sleep, without the abrupt spike of adrenaline that comes with having my territory violated.” Kyōya actually feels contrite, which confirms his reading of their relationship. “And did you  _tell_  Takeshi that you might slip into his bedroom and watch him sleep?”

“-” The silence is very eloquent. His ridiculous boy would probably protest that he’d sort of expected Kyōya-kun to do something like this, given how violently possessive of his territory the Cloud is, but he is going to beat the need for conversation into the two of them. Even if he has to  _ask_  Shigure Kintoki to aid him.

“You need explicit consent from my silly son for everything you do to or with him, Kyōya-kun. If you’d had the conversation with Takeshi about this, I could allow it, but as it stands I can’t let you stay in this room without me, and I need sleep. You’re welcome to spend the remainder of the night on the futon in the living area, and join my silly boy on his run in the morning. If you do, and you have the relevant conversation with Takeshi, I will give you a key, and  _that_  will allow you to come and go as you please. All I ask is that you don’t filch the tuna or the sake, and you don’t make a mess I’ll need to clean up, Kyōya-kun.” The Cloud tilts his head, parsing the multiple layers of the last part of the request, eyes widening and then nodding vigorously.

“I like my territory to be in good order, Tsuyoshi-san.” He’ll accept that as an answer.

“Then we’re in accord. Now let’s get you settled on the spare futon. I would like to get at least a few more hours sleep, Kyōya-kun.” He rises to his feet, a little creaky, and trusts that the young Cloud will follow him.

They end up setting the futon up in the hallway; he’d prefer Kyōya settle in the living area, but the boy’s Flames had grown increasingly agitated the further he’d gotten the boy away from his son and he doesn’t have the heart to make Kyōya deal with trying to sleep in that state. He’ll take his small victories where he can get them, especially since the boys are likely to outstrip his abilities in short order if they haven’t already.

* * *

“Father, sit  _down_.” He’s beginning to regret the decision to allow Aria, Reborn and Gamma to travel on his private plane. After the hours of conversation he’d had with Aria, he’s hyper-aware of the conditioning that Reborn keeps brushing his Flames against, and the way his Papa’s Flames keep roiling at the intrusion into their Harmony. He’d become almost inured to it before, when Reborn was still his tutor, had assumed the way Romario’s Flames had settled after the asshole had left had just been them settling into his Sky properly. (He should have realised what Reborn had done to him, given that he’d stopped calling Romario Papa, even in the privacy of his own head. He  _hates_  Reborn for trying to take that relationship from him. Romario had hugged him  _so_  hard when he’d called him Papa again in the privacy of his study.) “Dino’s pilots are perfectly competent, and unless you’ve been hiding things, you’re not licensed to fly a 727.”

His Papa brushes his hand against his shoulder as he passes, intent on checking on the pilots, and the brief touch soothes something in his head, as does Aria’s put upon sigh and the surge of the start of zero-point. “You wouldn’t.”

“Father, I warned you. We’re in a plane at 30,000 feet, and you’re pointing a pistol at a Sky’s Guardian.” There’s no response from Reborn, and he makes a small relieved sound when he gets up and sees Aria strapping a Reborn-sicle back into one of the chairs. “Why can’t he just  _listen_ , Dino?” He doesn’t have an answer, but maneuvers her to one of the couches and tucks her into his side, doing his best to offer her comfort, and some of his Flames to replace those she’d just expended. Gamma must realise that there’s nothing sexual about it because he just sighs and settles into another of the chairs.

* * *

He feels something poking at his feet, and blinks himself blearily awake. “Five more min- Kyōya!” The sight of his boyfriend at the foot of his bed, poking at his feet, makes him smile.

“Snack, Asari-mine, and then talking on the way to pick up otouto. Don’t run on an empty stomach.”

He gets up from his futon and starts stripping off to get dressed. “When did you get here, Kyōya-koi?” There’s a quiet, unsettled ‘hn’ from behind him. “Dad should have let you stay in here, koi. I get why he thinks talking is important, but if you were that bad then …” His Kyōya comes up behind him and wraps those strong arms around his waist and kisses his neck. It feels good, like a hug but more, and settles the both of them, and he hums. “Mm, wouldn’t mind sparring later, Kyōya-mine, but I think I have duties to our Sky if Tou-san is asking us to bring him here. Something about the dock market and cooking? So guard duty.”

“After the market, then, Asari-mine. Patrols anyways, and that way have more time. Made onigiri for us. After, we get otouto.” Kyōya shuffles around so they can leave his room and doesn’t let go of him until they’re on the street and joined by today's little canary. His lover is adorable.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Collection] E-Rated Scenes from "To Heal Our Hearts"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14779301) by [Angelic_Xia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelic_Xia/pseuds/Angelic_Xia), [Night-Mare (Aoife)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Night-Mare)




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